Thursday, May 28, 2009

Foreign Exchange Rate

Since I'm trying to become a little more health conscious these days I thought I would check out the new grilled chicken that KFC has been advertising so much lately.

Simple enough plan, right?

Or so I thought!

The advertising on TV said you could get a bucket of the new stuff for $9.99. In Georgia, you have to pay tax on food purchases so that made the total $10.69 and I was to pull ahead to the second window to receive my order.

I only had 10 bucks on me so I needed to dig in my console to get the correct change. It was taking me forever to find 4 pennies amongst all the other junk I keep in there--one thing about the Mustang it doesn't have many places to keep stuff. Anyhow, it was my turn at the window and I told the guy to hang on because I was digging for another penny. I didn't really look at him because I'm sure he was probably getting annoyed. (I would have been)

Success! I found the last penny that I had been searching for and handed him the money. I smiled and waited expectantly as I watched him count the money into his change drawer and I was surprised when he told me it was going to be a minute.

I saw my order already waiting at the counter so I didn't know what the problem was. I saw him call the manager over and watched as they looked and discussed something that he was holding.

Meanwhile, my chicken is getting cold, and the cat, who I had taken along for the ride was getting restless...plus, my stomach was growling. Just give me my dang chicken!

"I'm sorry, Ma'am," said the clerk, I can't accept this 20 cent piece."

"Excuse me?"

"This coin you gave me, it's a 20 cent token and KFC doesn't accept them."

I asked to see the coin, and sure enough, it turned out to be a Canadian coin that was about the size and shape of a dime. "It's Canadian," I said. "Why can't you take it? Someone had passed it along to me sometime and you can pass it along to the next customer." I thought I was being helpful.

"I can't do that," he said. "Because I don't know what the foreign exchange rate is. It says it worth 20 but I don't know if that is close to, more than, or less than a dime. I know it's only a dime, but I have to pay for any shortages in my drawer."

You know, I knew exactly where that young man was coming from having worked all those years at the Post Office as a window clerk. If you come up short, it's coming out of YOUR pocket. I dug a little deeper into the console and found him a real dime this time, an American dime.

4 comments:

Queen-Size funny bone said...

I would of taken it and then thrown the money in at the end of my shift. Its not worth the upset to worry about such small things.

Unknown said...

It might seem small, but one coin per customer every 15 minutes adds up. However, I doubt it happens quite that often. I understand his reticence about a foreign coin, but have you ever tried an unusual coin or bill? That really confuses 'em.

Ailurophile said...

Ohh. I get coins of different currencies too at time, and have a hard time passing them on.. so usually I just keep them in my archives!!

Nice blog :)

Da Old Man said...

I'm pretty sure he would have come out ahead.

Share/Bookmark

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin