Refill Price Integrity

I read To Own A Dragon last week and I was reminded of a passage from the book while I was at the Bucks. The passage that I thought of is when John, Miller’s friend, is telling the story of Don Cheadle’s character in The Family Man. Cheadle’s character gives a customer in his convenience store the wrong change. He gives nine dollars too much. The customer was only supposed to get coins back but she walks out the door with the cash. Cheadle tested the girl’s character, and she failed miserably. He points out to Nicholas Cage, next in line, that the girl sold her integrity for nine dollars.

The Bucks sells a lot of coffee. The company tries to say thank you to their customers by offering same visit, in-house refill prices on regular coffee. The refill price: 54 cents. Many customers try to save their cup all day long, or even for days, and bring it back to the store for the refill price. Most of them end up getting the refill price, thus saving about one dollar.

It is pretty obvious when a customer is doing this, but I don’t call them out. If I was in management I would, but getting into an argument isn’t worth one dollar, especially if it gets so bad that I put myself in danger of losing my job. I give these customers the refill price. However, during one of my shifts last week a senior employee told a regular that you only get refill price on the same visit to the café. The employee nicely explained that customers can’t get the refill price on a coffee they bought ten hours ago unless, for some freakish reason, they happened to be in the store all day. The customer to whom she was speaking to said that he was unaware of this rule, but that he would obey it next time.

I watched the exchange between the employee and the customer. We made eye contact. He recognized me.

I was there the next time that customer came in. I was standing slightly out of view when he approached with his cup and I stepped out from behind the bar because I was taking the trash out. He started to say his order. There was a little hesitation in his voice because he saw me. I was there when the refill rule was explained to him and he knew that. I kept walking toward the door and he kept delaying his order.

I was waiting for him to say, “It’s a refill.” And he did, but not until he was convinced I was out of earshot. Sometimes my hearing impresses me. I have a theory about this that I must share. When you are as tall as I am you hear it everyday. No exaggeration, everyday I hear at least one exclamation from a total stranger about my height. Many of the comments find their way to my ears long after the people gawking think I can hear them. I have always known this and I have always listened for them. I walk by countless people who I catch staring. There is a certain look they have that tells me they are waiting to say something to a friend who is walking beside them or someone on the phone. I have radar for these faces and I have an even better detection of what is said. It may sound ridiculous to you, but my ear is trained to hear whispers from far away, and although this customer’s whisper wasn’t about my height, a lifetime of height comments have ensured that those remarks don't escape my ears.

I continued out the door and made a quick calculation. Forget nine dollars; this guy sold his integrity for a dollar and fourteen cents.