Let the Good Times Roll... Sort of

With all my poor consumer luck a change was bound to come, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Leah is out of town for her semi-annual Stampin' Up retreat. Obviously, her absence means I am responsible for our three children. Nearly every stranger I've met has informed me that I have my hands full. Maybe I just look helpless. So Friday the girls and I decided to go to the park to play a little soccer. It was 91 degrees! When we were done, we needed a cold drink. We drove to Sonic and pulled in at 3:57. You may know that Sonic has Happy Hour from 2-4. We were just in time to get two slushes for the price of one. So I ordered two orange cream slushes. The woman told me the price and it sounded a little high. I asked if I had missed Happy Hour. She told me no, but that the drinks I ordered, despite being slushes, were not half-off, because they have ice cream in them. So much for drinks and "slushes" being half-off. I shook my head and placed the order. That is when things changed. When the server brought the drinks I handed him my card. He informed me that their credit card machine was down. I told him I didn't have any cash. Then he told me that the drinks would be free. Forget Happy Hour, free drinks are better than half-price drinks any day!

So then today, Saturday, I took my two oldest and my brother's two oldest girls to see "Horton Hears a Who." When we got to the ticket office I requested four children's tickets and a student (yes, I'm the student - still). The teller told me which theater the movie was in and then told me that the credit card machine was not working, so the movie would be free. I was pretty stoked! All five of us got to watch the movie for free, and I must say that the movie was really enjoyable.

So why the "Sort of" in the title to this post? While it seems that my consumer satisfaction has taken a turn for the best, it has come at the expense of another's consumer status taking a turn for the worse. I can't imagine how frustrated the managers of Sonic and the theater must be with their card companies. They both probably lost a considerable amount of revenue. But, until I hear of businesses giving out freebees from the goodness of their heart, I'll take what I can get and hope that someday I experience that WIN-WIN consumer experience.