Low Gas Price, and Other Decimal Fun
I almost caused an accident when I saw this gas price today:
To my dismay, it turned out the station was undergoing maintenance, and the attendant apparently chose this price on purpose. What a lousy way to indicate a gas station is closed…Blatant false advertising I say!
The incident did remind me of a story where my friend went to McDonald’s. A few years ago, he saw a promotional sign outside of the store that read: “Limited time offer: 0.99 ¢ Big Mac”. Willing to try his luck, he went to the store and ordered 3 Big Macs. He then threw down a nickel on the counter and proudly said, “Keep the change.” The cashier and manager did not find this amusing and wouldn’t honor the price, and they seemed unwilling to admit that “0.99 cents” is not the same as “0.99 dollars.”
Verizon seems to suffer from the same conversion problem, as you can hear in this hilarious customer call. Check out his blog for the whole story.
5 Responses to “Low Gas Price, and Other Decimal Fun”
A more common problem for McDonald’s is the “Made For You” policy, which allows people to create a $1.00 Big Mac. The formula is quite simple:
1. Order a Double-Cheeseburger ($1.00)
2. Add Lettuce
3. Add Special Sauce
4. Add Sesame Seed Bun
This really irks most managers, and will allow you to order two “modified” Big Macs for the cost of a single, normal Big Mac.
No too bad, eh?
By Anonymous Tipster on Aug 12, 2007
Lol, that’s a great tip!
I had a friend who used to work at McD’s back in high school, he seemed to be happy with his job. Then the “made for you” policy happened and things turned nightmarish and he quit. I bet he’ll be happy to eek out some vengeance by abusing their policy.
By RohoMech on Aug 17, 2007
@Anonymous Tipper–you are a genius. Wondering if you know how to get free extra meat at McDonald’s sister company Chipotle…in the words of Lumberg, yeah, that would be great.
@Rohomech–too bad things turned to hell for your friend, with what actually sounds like a pro consumer policy. I am curious if this method works, so please do comment if your friend is successful.
By Presh on Aug 18, 2007
Regarding Chipotle-McDonald’s divested from Chipotle last year. The owners weren’t too happy that McDonald’s investment came with their control over Chipotle’s food supply.
By Erik on Aug 20, 2007
@Erik-Makes sense; a place with Chipotle’s high quality ingredients controlled by McD’s never made sense to me.
By Presh on Aug 20, 2007