This morning after I had my annual lady-flower checkup appointment, I decided to stop by the gas station to fill up and grab myself a little treat. After filling up my tank and paying at the pump, I went inside and got myself two donuts and a medium coffee.
I stood in the long line, fantasizing about biting into the sugary goodness of my Krispie Kreme and slowly made my way towards the front. There seemed to be some sort of hold up on one of the registers, but I ignored it and huffed the smell of my vanilla flavored coffee.
When I finally got to the front of the line, I found out the issue. Their credit card machine just went offline and they are only accepting cash.
Oh, crap.
I NEVER have cash!
I frantically searched through my wallet and found a dollar. Then, I started counting out my change and came up with a whole $1.50… I re-approached the counter with what I can only assume was a hopeful/sheepish expression on my face and asked how much of my loot I can buy with $2.50.
The answer was one doughnut and my coffee.
The cashier put on a glove and took one of my donuts away from me. I said goodbye to that doughnut with my eyes. Eyes that wanted to eat it so badly. Of course, now that I’m thinking about it I would have preferred that she take my coffee and leave me with the donuts, since I could go and make more coffee at home. Also, why wouldn’t she just let me have my doughnut, considering that she can’t re-sell it to someone else? Or can she…?
Normally something like this would have totally embarrassed me. But frankly, I’m happy to be able to HAVE money in my bank account to pay for donuts, when so many people do not. Yes, I had my doughnut confiscated today, but at least I am lucky enough to know where my next meal is coming from.
I ate my one remaining doughnut on my way home and it was delicious.
Has this ever happened to you? Were you super embarrassed or did you just shrug it off?
Yeah. I feel like she should have just let you keep it.
RIGHT?! I know she wasn’t going to put it back in the case (I hope) so it would have only made sense that she be cool about it. She might have had to account for each doughnut though, since it was a Krispie Kreme case in the store.
I don’t think this has ever happened to me but I did just read an article in National Geographic about “the new face of hunger” — meaning today’s poor in America. It was shocking — most hungry people now have houses in developments in the suburbs but they can’t afford FOOD in the fridge! They have TVs, iPhones, all that stuff and their kids go to school hungry. So sad because we’ve really lost our way with food in this country. People don’t even know where a carrot comes from! This comment from me isn’t funny at all! Sorry! It just reminded me when you said you could afford a donut! We the people that can afford donuts are lucky!
I just recently read an article where the writer gave a woman $50 to spend on whatever she wanted at the grocery store and it was really interesting the limitations she had because the homeless shelter didn’t have a refrigerator or oven. For her, fresh fruit was a total luxury. Yes, we are very fortunate that we can afford donuts.
Had just moved from NZ to England, my husband went to work and I was all brave and went to the little supermarket in the village all by myself, filled up my basket and only when I got to the checkout did I realise he had taken the one and only card to work with him – I didn’t have a bank account yet. I was SO embarrassed I offered to put everything back on the shelves – they were lovely and wouldn’t let me – guessing the Kiwi accent helps on occasion! The worst was remembering I had a 20 pound note hidden in the back of my purse after I’d left – and I was WAY too embarrassed to go back!
That totally happened to my husband when he took Jack to the store. He had to leave everything there, pack Jack back up in the truck, drive back home to grab his wallet and go back out!
I had to leave a cart full of groceries at the store once too because I had forgotten my wallet at home. It was embarrassing. It’s tough when the credit card machines go down because I rarely carry cash anymore.
I feel like many people don’t carry cash. I mean, I don’t even SEE the money I make — it goes from my employer directly deposited to my bank, then pays my credit card bills (we use credit for everything to earn points and then pay it in full each month).
This happened to me twice. One Thanksgiving about 25 years ago the kiddos were sick so we couldn’t go to grandma’s house. I left dad to take care of the kiddos (watch football) while I made a mad dash to the grocery store. (Imagine trying to buy Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving Day before the invention of Thanksgiving in a box) I found 3 cornish game hens, a box of instant stuffing and some sort of veggie. Stood in line for what seemed like an eternity (last minute Thanksgiving shoppers) only to discover after ringing up my order that I had left my wallet and checkbook at home in the diaper bag. Argh!!! That night we celebrated Thanksgiving with doctored up Ramen noodle soup. I didn’t shop at that store for months afterwards.
The second time was a couple years ago when my debit card wouldn’t go through at the local office supply store. They tried it several times. I knew there was more than enough money in the account but walked away HUMILIATED. As I was walking out of the store I overheard the lady right behind me saying, “wait, there is over $1,000 in that account! There is something wrong with your cash register!! Vindicated, I went back in and bought my office supplies using a different cash register. They were very apologetic and gave my a small discount.
As for you doughnut confiscation, I feel your pain. All I can say is I’l bet the doughnut po-po doesn’t believe in karma.
Oh wow, if that would have happened to me on Thanksgiving I totally would have just stood there and cried my eyes out!
I think that the cashier was just young and really didn’t know what to do other than the ‘right thing’ according to store policy. =)
I usually only carry $20 on me for random coffees and such but I’ve been caught at the grocery store when their machines are down and I’m like sorry! Thankfully my local store is pretty good, last time it went down they put signs up right at the front door so you knew when you walked in.