Three Star Night

(rox sm, flickr, CC2.0 SA)

The title says it all.

I think a lot of my experiences would have been avoided if I had a car. That being said, I needed a cake for my birthday party, so I ordered one online from Albertson's. It seemed like a great idea at the time. 1) Place your order online. 2) Pay for the order. 3) Bribe a friend to help you pick it up the day of the party. I was overjoyed that in this day and age online ordering was available. It's a lovely arrangement for a grocery store to offer its customers.

The day of my party (already running an hour later than I cared for), I go to pick up the cake from the store while my friend waited in the car. I go up to the counter and announced, "Hi, I'm here to pick up a cake. Let me give you the confirmation number of my order."

The baker stared back at me blankly.
We don't have your order.
   Um, I'm sorry?
We don't have your order.
   Well, I pre-paid for a cake online. I have the confirmation number right here. It was 1/4 sheet Red Velvet.
You need a receipt
   I don't have a receipt. I ordered online. I have a confirmation number.
We don't have your order
... (repeat last few lines of the conversation a few times)
Let me check
(She disappears for a good 20 minutes. During this time, a second, much nicer baker finds 1/4 sheet red velvet lying around and asks me if there was anything I wanted to write on it. I said, "Happy birthday, Jo." Not-nice baker comes back.)
We don't have your order. You need a receipt.
   I don't have a receipt, but I did pre-pay. I would like to pick up the merchandise I paid for. May I speak with a manager?
(She calls on the intercom a few times. No one comes. She sees that the other baker wrote "Happy birthday, Jo" on the cake for me.)
This is for a birthday?
   Yeah, min- (She cuts me off and raises her already escalating voice.)
Who the hell orders cake online for a birthday? I mean, really? You would think it would be important.

Yep. Albertson's has great customer service. However, understanding that as an employee her hands were tied and maybe she really couldn't give me the cake without a receipt, even though I never got one but had a confirmation number instead:
   You know what, I know this is neither of our faults, and I really do appreciate the help you have been giving me so far.

She proceeded to keep muttering "You're killing me." and "Why would you order a cake online? Who the hell orders cake online? You should have called. You should come in person next time." (Quite frankly, I'm starting to agree. Or skip Albertson's and go to Baskin Robins instead.)

We wait for some manager to come. They don't. She continues to mutter to herself. Finally, she snapped at me and asked me for my confirmation number. She wrote it down and said, "Well, just take the cake and leave." And that's what I did.

PS Don't let the picture fool you. The cake wasn't that nice (but it did taste good, at least.)