It was Good Friday and I had the day off. The only work-related thing I had to do was to have a phone conversation at 1 PM with a potential customer. My boss was to be on the call too so she asked me to bring lunch and drop by her place. But what would she, I, and her two boys like for lunch? It would have to be something quick, as I was running out of time.
Taco Bell. You can get a box with a dozen tacos in it for as little as $14. To save time, I fired up the Taco Bell app on my phone. I’d never used it before, but soon I was pulling the trigger on an assorted box of tacos, some of which would be upgraded to have Doritos-flavored shells.
I left my apartment, hopped in my car, and drove the mile-and-a-half to the Taco Bell. When I got out of my car, I checked the time. I was going to make it in time to get my tacos, drive over to the boss’ place, and hop on the call, no problem. As I was checking my phone for the time, I noticed that I had two push notifications, both from Taco Bell. One was from 11 minutes ago and read “we are making your order!” The second one was from 9 minutes ago and read “your order is ready for pickup.” Nice. I entered the Taco Bell, waited for the customer in front of me to finish his order, stepped up to the counter and said “I’m here to pick up an order for Scott.”
That’s when things went sideways.
“There’s no order for Scott,” the young woman at the counter said. I stared at her. “Yes there is” was all I could think to say. “Did you order online?” “I ordered on the app.” She turned away and asked someone something. She checked her register again. She was adamant: no orders for pickup.
I pulled out my phone and showed her the notifications I’d received. “Look. It’s says it’s ready for pickup.” She looked. Another employee suggested I’d ordered from the wrong store. I checked my email receipt. 1307 S. Main Street in West Bend is the address of the only Taco Bell in town, the very Taco Bell we stood in.
“Did you already pay?” The young woman asked. “Yes, I paid in the app” I answered. I thought maybe I could just order another box right then and there and just wait for it, but I no longer had time for that. “Look,” I said in frustration, “I’m in a hurry. I’ll have to sort this out with you folks later.”
As I left, I thought about how disappointed everyone would be, expecting me to arrive with a dozen tacos and instead getting exactly zero tacos. On my drive to the boss’ place I swerved into a Dominos pizza. I dashed in and asked if they had any pizzas ready to go. They didn’t.
“Did they run out of tacos” is how my boss greeted me when I walked in the door. “Worse than that,” I replied. I explained the whole story. “That is the saddest thing I have ever heard,”she said. I agreed.
Our call went very well and when it was over my boss said maybe she should speak with the Taco Bell people. She has a reputation for getting her way, especially in situations of consumer disputes. So, I forwarded her my email receipt and forgot about it. Later on that day she told me she had spoken to them and that I could just go in and get my box of tacos any time. “Wow, that is actually the very least they can do – give me what I already paid for.” Yes, it was the very least they could do, she agreed.
So I guess at some point I’ll head over to the Taco Bell and see if I can set things straight. Maybe they can do something more for me after this terrible experience.