customer service fail #438793 plus...

he coulda been a contendah!

I stopped in Dunkin' Donuts on my way to work today, like the good little Boston white trash girl that I am. Whereupon I proceeded to try to buy a medium iced ($2.50-something with tax) with a twenty dollar bill. The cashier looked at me. "Oh. I can't change that. Do you have anything smaller?" Closer perusal of my wallet yielded a five which I hadn't known*** I had and of course I could have used my debit card if absolutely necessary, even though using plastic for purchases under ten bucks makes the baby Jesus cry. But, seriously? How does a place whose reason for being is to serve coffee fail to have change for a twenty at 7:15 in the morning?

The universe then immediately compensated me for this minor annoyance by allowing me to listen in on a bit of fascinating conversation from two guys, one black, one white, both probably ten years older than me. Apparently they were catching up on, or discovering, various acquaintances they had in common. Talk turned to "Danny". (What is it about that name?) One guy recounts that someone told him Danny had passed away, and he went home and "cried his eyes out" because, man, he knew Danny since kindergarten. Then two or three weeks later he saw Danny walking down the street and it blew his mind! Reports of his death had been, y'know, greatly exaggerated. Other guy says, thoughtfully, "You know, I've got to say I've always been disappointed in Danny. Do you know what he could have been?" Oh, yes, first guy knows. Champ. Danny coulda been the champ. Ali trained Danny. Marvin Haggler's people trained Danny. They all thought Danny was the one. But Danny's bright future, all Danny's promise, went up his nose. Apparently. Oh, Danny. Just say no to drugs, kids.

Now, I know very little about 1980s boxing (as evidenced by my huge trivia fail in same), certainly not enough to figure out what Danny's last name is. But now I kinda want to know. It could come up again.

xoxo

***and as I was typing this out it occurred to me why I had that five. D gave me a hundred dollars cash yesterday to buy something for him. One of the other bills he gave me was a fifty. I probably tried to give that poor woman in Dunkin' Donuts a fifty thinking it was a twenty, and thus this is NOT a customer service fail, but instead evidence that no one should make me do anything that early in the morning. Sigh.