Cash, Charge, or Cerveza?

20 minutes ago today marks the first day in my cashiering history at Taco Bell where we will be offering the convenience of ATM machines at both the drive-thru window and the dining room. 16 hours and 40 minutes from now, I will go to work and eventually ring up an order using an ATM card. Ideally, this will prevent future mishaps from occuring, like:

-The customer comes through the drive-thru, orders $20+ worth of food, comes up to the window, flashes a shiny rectangular card, and gets upset when I tell him/her (usually her, for some reason) that we only accept cash. Apparently, those customers in question, using their brilliant powers of deduction, assume that since a couple other fast food restaurants take ATM cards, that EVERY fast food restaurant must take ATM cards, and therefore we are apparently required by law to take ATM cards or else we are subject to such degrading insults as being "behind the times" and "stupid".

Of course, it's not the customer's fault that they ordered a bunch of food, and that at least half of it is ready by the time they get up to the window, and that they neglected to ask if we took ATM cards before placing their order, and that we end up having to waste a bunch of food because of their assumption. Of course not. Insert eyeball roll here.

Unfortunately, having ATM machines doesn't prevent every customer-related catastrophe from happening, such as:

-Customers forgetting their wallet and having to pull apart their car scrounging for change to buy an 85 cent bean burrito. Not to mention the fact that they are illegally driving without a license. But that's for the courts to decide. And even if they were arrested for driving without a license, they don't have much to worry about. The way our court system works, by the time they actually get sentenced to prison, several decades will have passed and they will probably be too old and senile to remember what they did wrong.

-Customers coming through the drive-thru with an open bottle of beer sitting between their legs (Yes this has happened, and yes this has happened more then once, and no they were not willing to share)

-Customers coming through the drive-thru wanting a refill on their drink that they didn't buy here. Some lady came through once with a type of 32 oz. cruiser cup that we don't sell and said that she had bought it here earlier and asked for a refill. I told her to hold on one second, and I went over to the front of the store, picked up the type of cruiser cup we sell, and went back to the window. I showed her the cup and said, "Here's the thing...we don't sell those kinds of cups here, we sell these kinds of cups, so we can't give you a refill through the drive thru. You'll have to come in if you want a refill." She gave me a blank stare and nervously looked over to the person sitting in the passenger seat, and managed to mumble OK before she sped off. She didn't come in to get a refill.

Anyway, I'm sure ATM machines will be a nice addition to the store. But I'm waiting for the day when we start selling beer at the drive-thru. Just imagine...our sales would soar! Of course, so would some of our drunken customers if they forget to put on their seatbelt.

Me: "Wow, 67.4 feet with a 35.2 foot skid distance. That's a new Taco Bell Alcohol Influenced Crash Record!!! I'm so proud! *sniff*"