The Incident at Jack in the Box

I had the day off from my day job the other day, and decided to use my MoviePass to go see a film. One of the choices on my app was the new DisneyNature documentary "Penguins," so I decided to go see it (it also coincidentally turned out to be National Penguin Day, April 25th). Before going to see the movie in downtown Bellevue I had some time and was hungry; rather than wait and get popcorn I stopped by the local Jack in the Box, one of my favorite fast food chains (this ended up actually costing me less than purchasing popcorn in a theater).



That was when the incident happened. 

There were two people in front of me in line. The man at the very front tried to order something, but apparently they had run out of that item. The man sighed, and asked if he could at least have a cup for water (the weather is getting warmer). So the cashier hands him a small clear cup for water, and he heads to the soda machine.

Now, I suppose maybe (and this is a big maybe) some might interpret what the cashier next said to the man as rude (in a low-key passive aggressive way), but I truly don't think she was trying to be. As the man goes to the soda machine, the cashier says, "Just water, okay."

That was when the man began to scream with rage. "If I wanted soda I would have paid for soda!" he screamed. "I make more money in an hour than you do in an entire month!"

Now, before I go on with this story, let's do some math. In the state of Washington, where I currently live, the minimum wage as of January 1st, 2019 is $12.00 per hour. If the cashier works full time (about 40 hours) at Jack in the Box, even with nothing above the state's minimum wage, that's still $1920.00. Hell, even if she was only working part time at 20 hours a week with minimum wage, that's still $960.00. 

The screaming man just claimed that he made at least almost a thousand dollars an hour. Even if he was a high-paid computer programmer making a six-figure salary (which granted, there are a lot of in Bellevue) it's highly unlikely that he's making quite that much money. 

Anyway, back to the story. The cashier attempts to pay him no mind and talks to the next customer, the one right in front of me. The screaming man finishes up his tirade, and then gets a cup of ice water. He then heads for the door, turns to the cashier (who is still trying to act like a professional and pay attention to the customer actually ordering food), and without taking a single sip of that water, throws it upon the floor! He then leaves the restaurant, leaving behind a plastic cup, water, and ice upon the floor of Jack in the Box. 

I'm always amazed by rude people, especially rude people who feel a need to seek revenge and justice upon fast food workers. Also, even if the screaming man wanted vengeance upon the cashier, he's basically putting the other customers who are doing him no wrong in danger; someone could trip upon the ice water and break their leg!

So I get my food, saying please and thank you to the cashier (who seemed to have no problem with me) and ate. I then venture into the movie theater, where I watch penguins wobble in the Arctic and do their best to survive (narrated by actor Ed Helms, interesting choice). While watching the adorable penguins fish, make nests, and dodge leopard seals, all I can think of is, "Wow, there are birds that are more civilized than some people."


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