Amanda Geditz Column
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
During
the four years that I have worked at Dairy Queen, I have dealt with many
customers that are rude, strange, and even some I would calll crazy. While I was
at work tonight, I encountered one that would fall in the crazy category.
Tonight was a very slow night. We generally had only one customer at a time for
most of the evening, so I recognized the lady that came up to the counter as I
was walking toward the register to help someone that just walked in. She had
ordered with another friend earlier and had been eating in the restaurant for
about fifteen minutes. She was reaching over the counter, putting a pen on the
other side of the cash register. I wasn't sure what she was doing and probably
gave her a confused look, so she looked up after setting the pen down and said
"I ate with your pen." Not knowing what she was talking about, this only
confused me further. When I reached the register, I looked down and saw that the
spoon attached to the pen had ice cream smeared on it. Now you're probably
wondering why there would be a spoon attached to the pen in the first place.
Well, customers seem to like stealing our pens (whether it's on purpose or
accidental, I can't be sure), so we tape a red plastic spoon to each pen in
order to dissuade people from taking them. Anyway, when I realized that she had
used that spoon to eat her ice cream, I was so appalled that all I could manage
to say was "Oh, that's okay." I know that when I looked up at her, my face was
filled with disgust, but there was nothing I could do about it. The thought of
someone eating off that spoon that had been sitting on the counter attached to
the pen for, at the very minimum, weeks, was enough to make me sick. Many, many
people have touched that spoon. It has probably fallen on the floor more times
than I can count. I would be shocked if it hasn't fallen into the garbage at one
point, and who knows what else it has been through. It was NOT clean enough to
eat off of. But she used it anyway. Not only did she use it, but the way she
said "I ate with your pen" made it seem like it was nothing unusual. She thought
it was completely normal to go up to the counter, take the pen, and use the
spoon attached to it to eat her ice cream.
After she left, I took the pen over to the other person I was working. She
noticed my jaw hanging open and asked me what was wrong. I told her what had
just happened and only after I showed her the spoon with the ice cream still on
it, did she believe me. After she got done laughing uncontrollably, she told me
that she remembered specifically putting a spoon in that lady's ice cream when
she handed it out to her. The only explanation that makes sense is that the lady
dropped her spoon on the floor or for some other reason needed another spoon,
and instead of asking us for another one, she took it upon herself to use the
spoon attached to the pen. And I thought I had seen it all.
Amanda