Today's Rant

Listen folks, I think immigration is wonderful - it's what makes this country what it is. We all came from somewhere else to make something unique - Americans. That being said, IF A PERSON DOESN'T SPEAK THE LANGUAGE, AND IF THEY CAN'T DO SIMPLE ADDING AND SUBTRACTING, THEY SHOULDN'T BE IN A JOB THAT DEALS WITH THE PUBLIC AND MONEY!!!!

I don't care if they came from another country, from Baltimore, or Alabama - they need to be able to communicate with the public. C'mon, people. If I moved to Moscow and got a job at the Red Square McDonald's, I'd be expected to speak Russian, right?

Last night, I was going through the drive through of McDonald's and placed a very simple order - 2 doublecheesburgers and a large order of fries (healthy, huh?). I should have known something was up when they didn't repeat my order with the price, but just said drive around to the 1st window. At the 1st window, a very nice, elderly gentleman from somewhere in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) asked what I ordered, so I told him. Now, normally when you get to the 1st window, they just tell you how much you owe and take your cash. Anyway, he looked confused, walked away and disappeared for about 2 minutes. He came back and said go to the next window. Now, I'm really confused about what's going on. I mean, I hadn't paid for anything and something seemed really wrong. So I go to the next window and the girl (yes, I said girl, not woman. She couldn't have been more than 15 years old) asked me in a very heavy accent what I ordered. I repeated my order "2 double cheeseburgers and an order of large fries", with obvious irritation in my voice. She then asked me another question, and I couldn't understand a word she said. "Excuse me?" She repeated whatever she said again. "I can't understand you," I said. Now, this should have been the point where she went and got a manager or co-worker who speaks English. Instead she rolled her eyes, sighed in the way that only teenagers can, and handed me a bag. "$5" she says. I handed over the cash and drove off. While sitting at the light, a small lightbulb went off in my head - "How the hell could my order have been $5? 2 dbl. cheeseburgers are $1.00 each. There's no way my fries cost $3.00". I looked in my bag for the receipt and sure enough, she gave me the wrong order. Now I was really pissed. Not so much that my order's wrong, but at the entire transaction. I made a u-turn and headed back to Mickey D's. At the counter, I told the manager that I received the wrong order from the drive thru. The girl who gave me the order starts saying "It's too hard, it's too hard" and pointed at what I guessed was the screen telling her what the orders are. Anyway, the manager gave me the correct order and started taking the order from the person behind me. "Excuse me", I said, "but my order should have been $3.79 plus tax, not $5.00". He looked at me like I was the one speaking a different language (I guess I was), then rings up my order - it was $4.09. Now, I'm no math genius, but it seems like very simple arithmetic - I gave you $5, the price was $4.09, the change is .91. Nope, Einstein had to go back to the office, get a pencil, and do the math on my receipt. I'm talking the whole 9 yards - crossing out the 5 to make it 4, borrowing one , the whole shebang. Incredible.

On the plus side, Kaleb really enjoyed sharing the fries.