I swiped my card, and the machine asked me to choose “Withdraw,” “Transfer,” or some other option. Come to find out, the sign sticking up from the back of the machine says that this thing is an ATM, and that whoever provides it charges a $.99 operating fee over and above the amount of each transaction placed with it.
Still a bit confused, I assumed that “Withdraw” was what I wanted, so I pressed that and then I get options of 5, 10, 15, 20, and “More”. Since my total was just over $5, I pressed “More” and “Other” (which showed up on the next screen) which allowed me to enter the exact amount. Oddly enough, the machine rejected the entire transaction when I did this. I asked the cashier about it, and he said I had to pick one of the $5-increment amounts. Grr.

So, grudgingly, I chose “$10″, entered my PIN, and waited for the receipt to print. When it did, the paper started coming out at an angle and then stopped, while the machine started to make a growling sound as it tried to print on jammed paper. I then tried to help it along by pulling on the little bit of paper sticking out, and then it started printing again — but by now, the crucial part of the receipt was mangled beyond recognition. This would have been the part the cashier would have looked at to see how much I had paid, since the ATM receipt acted like a cash voucher. Thankfully, I was able to just tell the guy behind the counter how much I had paid, and he proceeded to process the transaction and give me my change. Whew — close one.

That has got to be the WORST transaction I have EVER had to deal with. I mean seriously, why can’t they accept cards the way normal places do?!

Couple that with the fact that the spigot on the soda fountain that dispensed water had something wrong with it, such that if my cup didn’t completely surround the outlet, it would spray all over the place.

I was ANNOYED, to say the least.
I did fill out one of their comment cards though, so MAYBE the manager will take the appropriate heed to what I had to say.

Oops, sorry, that wasn’t short and sweet like I said it would be. I kinda started getting into it. lol

Now, the reason this is a journalistic FAIL is that … well, just take a look at the article’s title: “Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly boycotting Sean Penn films.” When I saw this link, I thought, “Ok, I guess this is going to be O’Reilly talking about why he boycotts Sean Penn films.” But that’s not even close to the subject of the entire article; rather, that title is describing a mere 4 LINES of the story, and says NOTHING about the content of the rest of it!

That, my friends, is a FAIL.

Tonight, I picked up a tray and did like I always did – told the lady I wanted fried rice – but then she asked me if I wanted a Panda Bowl or a Plate (she might have said A La Carte, I don’t remember). This understandably caught me off-guard, so I proceeded to examine the menus above to see what on earth she was talking about. I just wanted the normal 2-entree thing; didn’t she know that?!

Now, here’s where my grade of F is manifested. As I started perusing the menus, she just stood there, waiting on me to tell her what I wanted. If I had given her a response reasonably quickly, that would be fine, but I didn’t; I stood there looking at it for about 10-15 seconds because I wasn’t really in a thinking mode. In this situation, an employee (I’m not sure of the proper title for one who serves food from behind a counter) who really knows what they’re doing would have waited for a response for no more than 5 seconds, and then pointed out the meaning of the two options she had expressed to me verbally.
I think that sounds reasonable.

The whole transaction ended up feeling a bit awkward to me.
/fail