Saturday after James got off work, we spent the majority of our day with some online friends of mine and their kids and husbands at Sea World. Overall, it was a fun day, full of killer whales, meltdowns and freezing water. Can't ask for anything better.
The highlight of our day was certainly our $248.88 lunch. Now you might think we went all out, feasting on bluefin tuna and caviar, or that the lagging economy has caused theme parks to over-inflate prices more than they already do, but alas, our meal consisted of two chicken tender kids' meals at $7.29 each, and a veggie wrap and diet Pepsi costing about $11. So how, might you ask, did this modest lunch cost us so much. The answer is two-fold. First off, Sea World's cashiering methods seem to be stuck in the 90s, and secondly, our cashier got her nails did.
Most traditional theme park registers have gone the way of the dinosaur. They've been replaced with shiny new fandangled systems where all that is required is a swipe of the card and you and your receipt are happily on their way. Sea World seems to be content with it's antiquated and time-consuming process, because perhaps the long lines they cause make it look like their park attendance is soaring. Their system consists of two prehistoric machines. A prehistoric, large, non-digital register, and a separate convenience-store style card scanner. So the process goes like this, the cashier rings up your order on the prehistoric register. Once that totals out, the cashier scans your card on the separate machine, takes the total and transaction number and keys it in, prints a receipt for you to sign, then finally gives you your receipt. The whole process takes the better part of 2-3 minutes. So if this is the process they always use, why was it so difficult for my cashier???
And here's where the nails come in. My cashier had LONG acrylic nails...I'm not talking Guinness World Record long...but long enough to do some damage if they came near an unsuspecting eyeball. I knew this would be disastrous from the get-go, because her attempts to key in one number, would inevitably cause her to key in at least three, and at one point, one of her nails even got stuck in a button. Perhaps she should consider a more manicured look, given her job description. So, she's feverishly typing away, and I see the receipt finally printing, with the total of $248.88. My jaw DROPS...but she makes no eye contact with me, or even tries to explain, and simply begins to frantically attempt voiding the transaction. Well, in a classic 'cashier fail' moment, she processes the same transaction again....and again. Little receipts keep printing out, with this HUGE number considering what I'm purchasing, and still she avoids explaining anything.
Finally, she turns to me with this huge shit-eating grin and says "I keyed in the wrong amount, but I voided it, so if you'll just sign here to authorize it". Um, sorry, I'm NOT authorizing a $248 charge to my debit card for shitty food, so I sign the void receipt and hand them back. Finally, after 7 minutes in line and 5 different people having been checked out at the other line, I sign my receipt for $24.88 and take my food, frustration and disbelief to my awaiting family.
Lesson learned: bring cash to Sea World.
Kids Meal: $7.49
Diet Pepsi: $2.59
Acrylic Nails: $25
Being charged 10 times the value of your meal: Priceless
The highlight of our day was certainly our $248.88 lunch. Now you might think we went all out, feasting on bluefin tuna and caviar, or that the lagging economy has caused theme parks to over-inflate prices more than they already do, but alas, our meal consisted of two chicken tender kids' meals at $7.29 each, and a veggie wrap and diet Pepsi costing about $11. So how, might you ask, did this modest lunch cost us so much. The answer is two-fold. First off, Sea World's cashiering methods seem to be stuck in the 90s, and secondly, our cashier got her nails did.
Most traditional theme park registers have gone the way of the dinosaur. They've been replaced with shiny new fandangled systems where all that is required is a swipe of the card and you and your receipt are happily on their way. Sea World seems to be content with it's antiquated and time-consuming process, because perhaps the long lines they cause make it look like their park attendance is soaring. Their system consists of two prehistoric machines. A prehistoric, large, non-digital register, and a separate convenience-store style card scanner. So the process goes like this, the cashier rings up your order on the prehistoric register. Once that totals out, the cashier scans your card on the separate machine, takes the total and transaction number and keys it in, prints a receipt for you to sign, then finally gives you your receipt. The whole process takes the better part of 2-3 minutes. So if this is the process they always use, why was it so difficult for my cashier???
And here's where the nails come in. My cashier had LONG acrylic nails...I'm not talking Guinness World Record long...but long enough to do some damage if they came near an unsuspecting eyeball. I knew this would be disastrous from the get-go, because her attempts to key in one number, would inevitably cause her to key in at least three, and at one point, one of her nails even got stuck in a button. Perhaps she should consider a more manicured look, given her job description. So, she's feverishly typing away, and I see the receipt finally printing, with the total of $248.88. My jaw DROPS...but she makes no eye contact with me, or even tries to explain, and simply begins to frantically attempt voiding the transaction. Well, in a classic 'cashier fail' moment, she processes the same transaction again....and again. Little receipts keep printing out, with this HUGE number considering what I'm purchasing, and still she avoids explaining anything.
Finally, she turns to me with this huge shit-eating grin and says "I keyed in the wrong amount, but I voided it, so if you'll just sign here to authorize it". Um, sorry, I'm NOT authorizing a $248 charge to my debit card for shitty food, so I sign the void receipt and hand them back. Finally, after 7 minutes in line and 5 different people having been checked out at the other line, I sign my receipt for $24.88 and take my food, frustration and disbelief to my awaiting family.
Lesson learned: bring cash to Sea World.
Kids Meal: $7.49
Diet Pepsi: $2.59
Acrylic Nails: $25
Being charged 10 times the value of your meal: Priceless
1 comments:
Larissa said...
I read that second paragraph to Mike. I love it. Reminds me that I need to get my hair did.