You're going to charge me!?

[Anakah]

I was tired from a long day at work and decided to get myself some munchies before I went home. My horrid day called for some chocolate. Anyway, it's about
3am (The normal time for me to get off of work) and the AMPM is totally deserted. I begin to get my things and the cashiers greeted me and asked me if they could help me find anything. Things were good. Until I got up to cash out.

SC=obviously hehe
C=Cashier

SC: So can I have an extra cup?

He got coffee in the first cup and wanted a second one. And of course without the liquid. He just wanted the container.

C I'll have to charge you for the second one.

SC: WHAT? You're going to charge me for a cup!? Fine. Put the damn thing on there.

The nice cashier then told him his total. He had a few other items besides the coffee.

SC: WTF? How can it be that high?!

I swear his total was like four dollars. Maybe less.

SC: How much was the cup?

Ah, here we are back to the cup...

C: 1.49

Or something like that. It was one of the large cups for coffee or mochas whatever. It wasn't that expensive. But why the hell did he need an empty cup anyway?

SC: THAT much for a cup?! WTF! This is ridiculous!

C: I'm sorry sir, but it's for inventory purposes.

SC: Just take the Effin thing off! I'm never coming here again, what a rip off!

I am just standing behind him rolling my eyes and thinking what a stupid jerk. When he was safely outside the door my thoughts got the best of me.

ME: What an ass!

The cashier smiled and once again explained the inventory thing. I understood-- it made perfect sense to me.

ME: Eh, he was an idiot. I got tons of those today.

We shared a good laugh and talked a bit about IDing people and general retail stuff. Then I told him to have a great nice and that was that.

Nothing in life is free, pay for it and shut up.

[Ryu]

that happens at my movie theater but the cups are more expensive
yet some people actually buy them empty!!!
its like 4-5 dollars depending on the size, its nuts!

[Dria]

Sheesh, people complain about having to pay 25 cents for a cup where I work. $1.49 and we'd probably get frequent visits from the paramedics.

[Becks]

Aside from the $1.49 for an empty cup, how much does the soda cost?

[Banrion]

The cup costs the same regardless of the contents (ie. soda/no soda). Places that do not offer free refills take inventory of the soda. They know that 1 large 24 oz soda is 1 ounce syrup, 25 ml CO2, and 24 oz of water. (all numbers made up for the sake of demonstration). According to the inventory, they have sold 4 large sodas, so they should be out 4 oz syrup, 100 ml CO2 and 96 oz of water. If at the end of the day these calculations are off, it gets reported as either a loss of inventory, or a loss of cash, either way NOT GOOD.

I used to do inventory yields at my movie theatre, and oh what a PITA. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't. Either the customer is yelling about paying for a cup, or management is yelling about missing inventory. In the interests of keeping my job, I dealt with the yelling customers.

BTW: we did have small lidless dixie cups that we would gladly give away for free, as many as you wanted, but those were just never good enough for the SC's.

[Luna]

I used to have a saying at B&n in the cafe;

"The water is free, the cup is NOT."

[MystyGlyttyr]

I sometimes turned a little SE at McDonalds over these. (This is where being quick in your brain comes in handy.)

"I just want a cup! Why can't you give me a cup?!"
"Sir, the soda is free. It's the cup that costs $1.08."
"Well, what if I just bring in my own cup, then?!"
"Sorry, sir, no outside food, drinks, or cups inside the store."
*blusters* "Well, what about that guy there!!" *points to old man sipping senior coffee out of his own mug*
"Sir, that man is a former SEAL and a seven-time Golden Gloves champion. I saw him punch out a 22-year-old football player three weeks ago for being rude to his wife. If you'd like to tell him he can't bring his cup in, be my guest."

None of that last part was true at all, really, but it always shut these guys up, heh heh. Not happy, but silent.

[JustADude]

"Sir, that man is a former SEAL and a seven-time Golden Gloves champion. I saw him punch out a 22-year-old football player three weeks ago for being rude to his wife. If you'd like to tell him he can't bring his cup in, be my guest."

Oh that's rich. All I got when I was at McDs was an inventor that's the majority stock-holder of the company that bought ENRON's computer network at auction. If you believe his stories, he actually invented the scoreboard with the lightbulbs that make numbers. And he's old enough I half believe him.