Work is back in session, so I have to tackle some quicker ones. I had a strange experience the last time I was at Panera Bread that still leaves me wondering. I stepped up to the counter and gave the cheerful cashier my standard turkey sandwich and soup takeout order. The lady then asked me for a name to call out when the order was ready. Rather than go my standard route and give a name of a rock singer I went with my real name “Brian”. The cashier then asked me if that was with a ‘Y’ or an ‘I’. I tried desperately to process exactly what this actually mattered in the context of calling my name over the intercom. Unfortunately, I couldn’t rationalize it and was just about to ask her a probing question regarding the impact it would have on my food delivery when she added “You must not be asked that very often” …with a chuckle. She was note entirely correct since I am often asked this when dealing with text documents, but within this type of spoken scenario she was totally correct, I had never been asked that question… ever. In fact, the more common mistake is using an ‘AI’ instead of an ‘IA’ – which, by the way, generally brings a smile to my face and if in an email, goes in my special ‘Brain’ folder for future reference. I honestly replied “no” and decided to satisfy the original question with the appropriate “I” – as a note, I never get this problem when I use my standard approach and go with Jagger or Ringo. I was still thinking this over in my head and trying to decide what I was going to do when they called me name (“did you call Bryan or Brian?….) when I noticed I had pulled out a single dollar instead of a five dollar bill from my wallet. I stopped my payment motion, alerted her that I needed to get the right amount and took out my wallet to exchange the bills. Then the kicker came when she said “That’s okay, I do stupid things all the time too”. I personally preferred to classify it as a basic mistake brought on by the distraction of a previous incoherent statement, but if stupid does then stupid is fits her assessment then I will simply leave her with the positive feeling that she isn’t alone in the world. I picked up the order for Brien and went on my way.
Month: January 2008
A Line Violation
Happy New Year’s Everyone!
I thought I would cover a topic that is generally more prevalent during the holiday season but something we all run into at least once or twice a week. That topic is waiting line etiquette. I have always argued that the only fair approach to merchant lines is a single line with fan out. Specifically this means that there is a single line that all customers begin in. At the end of this line you disperse out to an open register. This insures a true FIFO (first in first out) that insure a fair treatment of all customers and no one is victimized by a particularly slow checkout employee, unacceptable price checks because the merchant failed the customer by not effectively labeling or programming the price of an item or god forbid the two parties decide it is chat time. Unfortunately, only a few merchants appreciate their customers enough to impose this order at the registers (note, failure to plan enough space to do this in the register area is not an acceptable excuse). I will give Best Buy, Taco Bell and Burger King props for consistently using this checkout model. Often times I will attempt to initiate this myself by standing back a couple feet from the registers in hopes that at least two other people understand that this is really the fastest approach in the long run (there is a chance you might pick the fastest checkout, but I’ll bet you will fail more than you will succeed). Note, I say two people because I have found through trial and error that this is the key number – as long as those two other people hold the line, others feel obligated to conform – and thus everyone wins.
My recent observation not only did not have the optimal line approach, there was clearly what I call a line violation – translated – someone decided they were more important than the other individuals waiting in line before them.
Life Intrigued 