I have a problem. I’m kind of addicted to Wendy’s Jr cheeseburgers. I get one almost once a week because I’m a fat kid with no self control. Yesterday I was seriously craving a Coke, and decided to change things up a bit. Instead of the usual 2 x Jr Cheeseburgers, I got a “Combo 1 : Regular cheeseburgers w/fries & a drink”.
So, I pull up to the drive thru and it goes like this…
“Can I get a #1 with a Coke please”
“Medium, or a large?”
“What does it come with”
“Small”
“Well, that’s what I want then”
As I pull up to the window a new conversation happens…
“Hi, so, I ordered a #1 with a coke, then you asked if that would be a medium or large, you never gave me the option for small, nor told me that’s what it comes with. Why?”
“Did you want a medium or large”
“No, I wanted what I ordered, a #1 with a coke”
“Yes, but do you want a medium or large combo”
“I want what it comes with. Exactly what I ordered”
“You can make it a medium or large”
“Why are you being deceptive?”
“I’m not”
“You are. You insinuated that it’s a medium, and I can upside to a large. Either way, I’m paying more”
“If you wanted a large you could have upsized to it”
“I wanted what I ordered, why is this so difficult?”
“Then you want a medium?”
“I just wanted what it came with. I didn’t ask for more. I asked for the combo. I didn’t ask to make it larger”
“That’s why I offered you a medium or large”
Clearly this person has absolutely zero critical thinking skills, or is so brainwashed with her corporate upselling message she can’t understand why I’m even the slightest bit frustrated right now. If anything, she’s probably thinking I clearly don’t understand.
I drive away thinking “This is where we’re at. Where I’m the asshole for asking for what I want, and getting frustrated when I don’t automatically allow myself to get upsold by default”. It’s just extract more and more money however possible, and should I say a damn thing about it, I’m the problem. How the fuck did the consumer become the asshole here?
And then I open the bag.
Paper fucking straw. Great. I can’t wait to suck up little bits of paper pulp with my Coke. But, I’m saving the environment, so I guess I need to make some sacrifices to keep this world beautiful for the next generation. I remove the additional paper on my straw and go to slide it into my cup, which is made of plastic, with a plastic lid.
Wait a second. Wendy’s used to use paper cups. For decades, those yellow paper cups. Now they’re clear plastic cups, with lids that are thicker plastic than they used to be. They’re not bio-degradable. In fact, there’s considerably more plastic in this cup & straw now than there was with a plastic straw and a paper cup. What the fuck is going on here.
Then I thought about something else. Taylor Swift, everyone’s princess and golden girl who can do no wrong in this world. She’s an inspiration to girls everywhere. So inspiring that she takes a private jet almost everywhere she travels. In fact, she takes approximately 170 private flights a year, and those flights average 80 minutes in length. Based on the environmental impact of jet fuel being burned at an average cruising altitude, she’s burning approximately the equivalent of 34,000,000 plastic straws per flight. That seems like a lot. I wonder how long it would take me to use up 34 million plastic straws.
93,150 years. 93 thousand fucking years of using a plastic straw every single day. That’s what she’s burning each time her little entitled ass steps on a private jet.
Yup. I’m the asshole. I’m sorry. I ruined the environment. It’s all my fault, and definitely all other consumers. It’s absolutely not the irresponsible corporations and manufacturing. It’s definitely not entitled celebrities and billionaires spewing whatever toxic sludge they want into the air and waterways.
I’m sorry everyone. I shouldn’t have ordered that cheeseburger combo.