RANT OF INDIGNATION: The Sonic on Centennial Blvd.

I have a lot of stuff to talk about today, so I’ll put it in separate entries. Some of it is backlog, but I have a chance to make up for lost time.

There are times, most likely Thursday nights, where the need for Sonic and the want of Sonic intersect, thus causing an almost magnetic pilgrimage toward the brown bag burger deal. This previous Thursday was no different. I had been at work, then at a doctor’s appointment that ran until 6:00 p.m. After that, I went to Fry’s.

If you haven’t been to Fry’s, especially the one in Dallas, it’s a head trip. An electronic goods store decorated with faux cows–I don’t know if they’ve turned off the artificial mooing in the parking lot. When I went to Fry’s, I learned one important thing: their ads that start on Friday run to Wednesday. So if someone (like me) decides to go in there Thursday and get a great deal on battery chargers for the stand lights for the church contemporary band at $13 for charger plus four batteries, that person is SOL. Sigh. If it isn’t on sale, Fry’s is not the cheapest place to find stuff. So, off I went toward the abovementioned band’s rehearsal.

The call of Sonic’s brown bag deal is what drove me there. There are several sonics in the area, but the one closest to my church is on Centennial Blvd. So on the way to the church, I hit the Sonic.

I place my order; the food comes out. My total: $7.57. I think, “gee, I have seven cents and eight dollars. Let’s give the guy that to make my change two coins instead of six.” Yes, the amount of coinage I carry in my pockets or wallet is a major consideration for me. I hand over the $8.07. The carhop, a teenage Hispanic-heritaged youth, says “Thank You” and starts to walk away.

I have to call after the guy for him to come back and give me my change. He smiles and gives me my two quarters, and the transaction is completed.

The sad thing is that this wasn’t the first time or the first carhop at this particular Sonic that has tried that. It’s happened on other occasions, and it’s finally got me mad enough to complain to the store manager about it.

I don’t know if they’re being trained or paid waiter/ress wages (where tips are integral) to take change from customers, but from my point of view, it’s theft. Petty theft, maybe, but it’s theft.

“So, Kev, why get so upset over fifty cents?”
Two points:
(a) if that carhop serves 10 cars/hour and has an average of 25 cents of change per car, over a four hour shift that person has picked up $10. This is a strawman set of numbers, but the point is still the same: each bit of change adds up.
(b) It’s the principle of the thing. You don’t ever assume that you’re entitled to someone else’s money.

I’ll be speaking with the manager, with Sonic’s corporate office, and with the Richardson police if everything else fails.