Could You Maybe Elaborate?

[Sofar]

"What sizes do you have?" strikes me as a pretty dumb question. Most places have the same "sizes": small, medium, large. Now, what exactly constitutes a small, medium, large may vary, so the more logical question would be "how big is your (size)?"

What complicates matters is burger joints insisting that all size hierarchies begin at medium and end several steps beyond large. What also compounds the situation is coffee shops and ice cream shops making up dumb names for their sizes. At Hades Burger, we have one size. We call it Ventuno Once. Still though, people seem to want sizes. A man asks for an extra-large fountain soda. I ring him up for the only size we've got, and tell him the cups are next to the machine. I turn my back, and he says, "Where are your extra-large cups? I ordered an extra-large." And then I have to explain to him that there is no extra-large and I did not charge him for this non-extant item. No matter what I say I can't convince him I didn't gyp him. Does soda taste better out of a three-quart plastic barrel? People seem almost offended about the lack of large cups. And another thing, whereas we do cater to children somewhat, (we've got kid's meal thing going on,) we have no kid's size shakes, no kid's size burgers, and no kid's size soda. The only thing that seperates the Burger Deluxe from the burger that comes with the kid's meal is that one comes plain, so you can stop slowly explaining to me how and why you need a plain burger as if no child has ever wanted a plain burger before.

[JustADude]

After dealing with that for as long as I can remember, I now suggest things instead of asking:
"cheddar cheese? Lettuce, tomato, pickles? A medium coke?"
They'll correct me right away if I suggest something they don't want, and there's no more "Well, what drinks, veggies, bread do you have?" type questions.
A bonus, I get compliments on my quick service because of this tactic, too!

Huh? Guess that's why people consider me to be so great with dealing with phone orders. I was taught to do that at my job at B&N in the cafe and it's stuck ever since, though I tend to suggest larges instead of mediums since it's a painless way of keeping profit up.

[Starlord]

reminds me of the trailer for the movie Ratatouille (sp?) where one rat asks the other what is that?. Second rat says I don't know, to which the first rat says, "You don't know what it is, and you're eating it." I fall out of my chair every time they show that. Just the way the rat says that is so funny.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Yeah, I like Cold Stone Creamery sizes - Like It, Love It, or Gotta Have It

But whatever they call it they should be able to translate from Small, Medium & Large (and not give you a hard time because you didn't say Tall or whatever)

FTR, I hate when they start at Medium..."medium" indicates that there is something above and below that level...medium cannot exist without something smaller and larger...so if you start at Medium then Medium is really Small...and if you have Medium, Large and Extra Large, then Large is Medium and Extra Large is Large and my brain is about to explode now.

[cinema guy]

I hate when they start at Medium..."medium" indicates that there is something above and below that level...medium cannot exist without something smaller and larger...

Me too. It makes me so Especially with clothes, I'm always asking for things in small and they don't have them.

[myswtghst]

Wendy's now even has a size below Small! The "Value" size on the 99c menu is the size the Small used to be, and they've upped everything else.

[jb17kx]

It's not only fast-foos places - Starbucks, at least down my way, start their sizes at Tall and work up through the absurdly irrational Venti and Grande.
Sometimes the staff correct small/medium/large to these sizes, other times they say "We don't have those sizes" and expect you, potentially a first time customer, to work it out. I don't go all that often, so I still say "small" as a force of habit.

[hecubus]

At the movie thater chain I used to work for, they changd the name of the small size of popcorn and soda to "Junior," the logic being that adults would be too embarrassed to order a "Junior" anything, and would therefore spend more on a "Regular" or Large.

As to the failure to elaborate, I used to get the following conversation several times a week at the 8-plex I worked at:

Cust. - "2 adults"
Me - "for which movie?"
C - "Two."
M - "Which movie??"
C - "TWO ADULTS!!"
M - "FOR WHICH MOVIE??!!"
C - "Oh, I thought they were all the same.."

Either that or:

C - "4 for (insert movie here)"
M - Punches up 4 adult tickets "$24 please." (yes, $6 for adults. This was a long time ago)
C- "That was 2 adults and 2 children!!!!!!!!!"
M - Thinking "and I'm supposed to know this how?"

[Broomjockey]

As to the failure to elaborate, I used to get the following conversation several times a week at the 8-plex I worked at:

Cust. - "2 adults"
Me - "for which movie?"
C - "Two."
M - "Which movie??"
C - "TWO ADULTS!!"
M - "FOR WHICH MOVIE??!!"
C - "Oh, I thought they were all the same.."

Either that or:

C - "4 for (insert movie here)"
M - Punches up 4 adult tickets "$24 please." (yes, $6 for adults. This was a long time ago)
C- "That was 2 adults and 2 children!!!!!!!!!"
M - Thinking "and I'm supposed to know this how?"

GAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!! THE MEMORIES! THEY COME FLOODING BACK!

I HATED people who did that. Lines are long, so they'd send one representative of the group to order like 8 tickets.
SC: 8 tickets please
Me: 8 adults?
SC: Yes.
Me: What show?
SC: Blah
Me: Okay *charge, usually on debit, bonus points for credit cards*
SC: Oh, do you have senior's rates?
Me: for 65 and up
SC: Two of the adults are seniors.
Me: Okay *refund, reprint*
SC: Wait, this total seems high, did you give me four kids tickets?
Me: No... *sigh, refund, reprint*
SC: Oh, the seniors wanted to go see Blech with two of the kids
Me: *grumblegrumble refund, reprint*
SC: Oh, and the two kids wanted to go see *movie that kids can't see by themselves*
Me: *informs of such*
SC: But I don't WANT to see that movie.
Me: Sorry, either you go with, or they don't get to see it.
SC: Fine, change the tickets.
Me: *swear in head, refund, reprint*
SC leaves, comes back half an hour later: That movie sucks. I want for Blah!
Me:Fine, I need all four tickets.
SC: But my kids want to see it.
Me: I told you they CAN'T be in there alone.
SC: Fine. I want a refund.
Me: Fine. I need all four tickets. And everyone here.
SC: WHAT?! FINE! *leaves, doesn't come back*

Yes, I have had that exact thing happen. Only once in whole, but by section, too many times to count.

[cinema guy]

At the movie thater chain I used to work for, they changd the name of the small size of popcorn and soda to "Junior," the logic being that adults would be too embarrassed to order a "Junior" anything, and would therefore spend more on a "Regular" or Large.

We have a self-serve drinks island and a self-serve popcorn hopper, except we only put medium and large cups and popcorn boxes out on them, so if a customer wants a small, he has to queue and ask at the counter.

Non-elaboration is pretty much standard at the cinema for both tickets and popcorn and drinks.

C: Popcorn please.
M: sweet or salted?
C: sweet
M: what size?

C: 2 for Shrek 3
M: goes through all the ticket questions, adult/child, standard/premier, middle/aisle? There you go, two for Shrek. Enjoy the film.
C: But I wanted them at 8 o'clock, not now!
M: to self

[PhotoChick]

Weird question but how do you have a self serve popcorn hopper (or more importantly how do they pay)?

[Sofar]

It's not only fast-foos places - Starbucks, at least down my way, start their sizes at Tall and work up through the absurdly irrational Venti and Grande.
Sometimes the staff correct small/medium/large to these sizes, other times they say "We don't have those sizes" and expect you, potentially a first time customer, to work it out.

Venti is Italian for twenty goddamnit! It comes in a twenty-ounce cup! They can't trademark the word twenty!

Every single day I experience this with the Starbucks on the corner. Starbucks barístas on CustomersSuck.com, I know there's one of you here, certainly you are not confused when we say large? Large isn't a name, it's a descriptor! You can't not have large, just as you can't start the heirarchy with medium! It was your stupid corporate beings above you what dreamed this all up in the first place, anyway. Why defend their actions?

[Sofar]

I like that idea, self-serve popcorn thingy. Just keep it within eyeshot of the counter and you're fine. A lot of theatre popcorn-stands give away free refills on popcorn anyway, on the basis that not many people are going to want to get up during the middle of the picture anyway.

[Amethyst Hunter]

Heh. She's not a libra, is she? My mother used to hate taking me shopping for clothes because I'd do that. I finally got fed up with myself for how long everything took and made myself be more decisive.

Hey! Hey! We Libras aren't THAT bad...okay maybe we are...or not...well yeah...uh...not really...I don't think so...

[Shabo]

I've only heard people corrected by SBucks Barristas when the store was open for a while and the clientele was fairly intelligent. But they did it in a nice way, like

C: Yes, can I get a large *insert drink here*?

Barrista: One venti *insert drink here*. Anything else?

Mmmmmm, Starbucks.

Yeah, I have a problem with elaboration all the time. I work in an office where we fix computers, and customers call up and say, "Yeah, I'm having a problem with my computer." *long pause* (me)"And the problem is?" "Oh, blah blah *gives more detail*".

Why not just say that in the first place! GAH!