The Covington Taco Saga

So it was nearing dinner time. Sue worked hard all day in the yard and she was in no mood for cooking anything. We had each received our monthly code for a free movie rental from Red Box yesterday too, so I suggested we go out and kill two birds with one stone. (I had already gotten my free movie on the way home from work.)

In retrospect, we should have stayed home.

When we got to the Red Box kiosk, she found that her phone was dead. Her phone contained both the code for the free movie as well as her personal list of potential movies to rent. She plugged it in with her car charger, but it was really dead so we opt to get food first.

My suggestion of Subway didn't work for her so we decided on Taco Bell. Our local Covington Taco Bell is one of those "half-n-half" restaurants with the other half being KFC. As we neared the place, I reminded her of my bad experience at this very Taco Bell a couple years earlier while she was in Kauai. I had gotten the shrimpiest tacos I had ever gotten in my life, but she didn't want to hear it.
"I've eaten here lots of times. We're not going to stop going here because you had one bad experience." she said adamantly. (She says almost everything adamantly.)

We drove through the drive-up window and ordered 6 tacos and 4 bean burritos. Pretty simple. As we left the window, I counted the items to make sure they were all there. Then she wondered aloud why it cost so much. In her mind it should have been under 10 dollars. She continued around to the other side and parked. She walked inside to check prices. She got back in the car with the answer.
"$1.19!" she said, "They used to be 89 cents!."

We went back over to the Red Box and she got her free movie and we went home.

When we got back home we went into the kitchen and I started dividing things up. Imagine my surprise when I opened a taco and found that it was literally less than half filled. I opened another one. Same thing. All six tacos were a joke. I was pissed. That reaffirmed it--I was never going to that restaurant again. What surprised me was Suzie's reaction when I showed her.

She looked at them in disbelief.

"That is totally unacceptable. We're going back." she said. (Yes, adamantly.) I was surprised. I never know how she is going to react and I almost always mis-gauge either the level or direction of her reaction. I expected she would sigh, shrug her shoulders, and say something like, "I guess we'll have to stop going to that Taco Bell." Not this time. I was mad about it (it was my second time ripped off after all) but she was really mad.

"Get your camera and take a picture." she said.

We exchanged plenty of dialogue between us both in the kitchen and during the drive back about how completely ridiculous it was to sell someone a taco with an inch of filling (that included everything) in it for a $1.19. There was tension in the car as we drove back. I couldn't believe that I failed to check them before we came home.

We went in and walked up to the counter. I spoke to the nearest girl behind the counter.
"Excuse me..." I said, to get her attention, "Is your manager in?" I asked.
"Yes, would you like me to get him?" she asked back.
"Yes, please." I didn't quite get why anyone would ask the question she asked, but maybe they are trained to be the first line of defense when it comes to protecting their store manager. Why else would I have asked her? Taking a 'How many managers are on the premises in fast-food restaurants' poll perhaps?

He came out of his office and over to the counter. His last name was Senti I believe. I wished I would have written his name down. [UPDATE: his name was Sethi]
"Is there a problem?" he asked, completely stone-faced.
I opened the bag and opened several of the tacos.
"These are unacceptable. I can't believe you would sell me a taco that looks like this for $1.19."
He looked through the bag like he was counting or something.
"What did you order?" he asked.
"I ordered six tacos and four bean burritos!" I said, my voice rising.
He dropped the bag into the trash in front of him.
"We'll replace them for you. I do apologize, sir." he said. His face never even neared a smile. He walked over to his staff on the other side of the room and gave them some instructions, then disappeared back into his office. Sue went back out to the car to wait.

During the course of my waiting I exchanged a few comments with other customers waiting. I told the one guy, "If you're getting tacos, you'd better look at em."

After waiting a few minutes, Mr. Senti Sethi came back to the counter with a bag. Again, he had the same stone-faced and insincere delivery.
"Here you go sir. I do apologize sir."
I opened the bag and inspected the contents. What?! The tacos were just as puny as before. Did he not get it? Is that their normal taco size? I opened them in front of him and held them out.
"What is this? These are not acceptable. These tacos should be full. I paid for tacos, not 'partially-filled' tacos." The nearby customers took some notice as this was going on. Mr. Senti looked at them like he really didn't see what the problem was. I continued:
"I have eaten at Taco Bell restaurants for many years and have never seen this. This is ridiculous."
He seemed both unconcerned and confused as to his next move, so I helped him out.
"Give me my money back please. I'm finished." I said, firmly.
Again, he dropped the bag into the trash in front of him.
"I do apologize sir." he said as he walked away.

The nearby customers I had already exchanged comments with were taking it all in as well.

He handled it poorly. It cost him two full orders of food tossed in the trash and he alienated at least the two of us as customers. What he should have done was replaced the four tacos with full ones and refunded our meal. It's how you keep customers happy.

We took our refund to Arby's and had roast beef sandwiches instead. Full roast beef sandwiches.

To top it all off, the movie she chose was so riddled with F-bombs (she investigated it on IMDB before she burned it) she opted to leave it alone.