Last evening on Feb-4-2024 between 7-8pm I visited your store located at: 9705 N Tryon St, Charlotte, NC 28262. My wife and I order two milkshakes and at the time of the order were the only people in the walk up window area. After taking the order the cashier went to work on other tasks in the store over by the milkshake machine. Another girl them came to the register and took three orders while we waited for ours to be prepared. During that process the two shakes were placed next to the windows on the inside, ready to be handed out. Assuming she was busy I continued to wait. When she finished helping everyone I inquired if the shakes beside her were our order, adding one was butterfinger and the other was caramel. She rolled her eyes and looked past me asking if anyone else needed to order before she acknowledge my request. When no one did, she looked at the shakes and replied this is order #63. This had now been sitting there for a while and no one ever called out order #63 up to that point. Great, are those what I just inquired about? She said I have to have a receipt to get my order. Checking my pockets, I didn't have a receipt and again confirmed what I has just ordered and had been standing beside the window waiting for. She continued to dig her heel in that I cannot have my food without a receipt in a manner I found extremely rude and condescending. Given the logic trap she had laid before me, what am I supposed to do? She has the food, is refusing to give it to me, and I ackknowledged already I did not have a receipt. She smirked and continued repeating this... Given the circumstance the only option I had was to say if you would print a receipt and hand it to me, I'll be glad to hand it back to you for the shakes. She asked if I was given a receipt which was fairly obvious what would happen at this point if I had said yes. I'm 100% certain the original cashier did give me a receipt. I'm also certain while I was waiting in 40-degree weather it was disposed of and my hands remained in my pockets while I waited. The only reasonable option I was left with was to lie to this lady saying I didn't have one and perhaps I wasn't given one. She then turned to the original cashier (still by the shake machine) asking if I was given a receipt. The other girl said yes. She then rolled her eyes at me, while replying to the other girl saying "yes, I know you did". Then she handed the shakes to me begrudgingly.
I find this entire interaction up to this point ridiculous behavior, a bit shocking, and leaving me uncertain what her issue was. As I continued to watch, not one person was challenged to present their receipt in order to receive their purchase, nor has this happened at this cookout or any other I've ever visited. Cashier generally have a sense of who's waiting on what, or at least make a good attempt to work with the dynamic situation and make the best out of it. To me if felt like this lady had an axe to grind and perhaps the guy she was looking at represented something else she had issue with. After this display of rudeness, and eventually receiving my order, I did look her directly in the eyes and give her my thoughts.
While I may not have been polite at the end, did not feel or see how anything prior to that point could have been construed by anyone as anything other that a customer ordering their food and wanting to receive it in a friendly manner. The situation escalated because she acted passive aggressive and as if she has no concept of how the fast food industry works. I've not seen roving bandits attempting to steal milkshakes when its 40 degrees outside at 8pm. If that does become a thing, this girl is a superstar!
Not only does Cookout Corporate take months to respond, but does NOTHING to make the situation better, aside from propose calling them again. They truly don't get it. Watch the same reply be posted here shortly. Do better! read more