"You want fries with that...?"

I bought some pizza coupons from co-worker as a fund raiser. They were for a long-standing, local ice cream and deli outfit here locally that has gone through several owners in just the past few years.

I grab 5, 1-topping 12-inch pizzas and proceed to the checkout counter. I hand them my 5 free coupons. The clerk gives me a blank stare; "I ain't never seen these...", she says flatly. Now we wait for the manager to get off the phone with her buddy/boyfiend/whatever. Five minutes. The manager walks over and quickly says she hasn't seen the "Free 12-inch, 1-topping" coupons I offered for payment either. Another five minutes while they try to extract some sort of answer from the cash register, as if what an idiot puts in, the machine will translate into some sort of higher-order thinking.

Finally, I say politely, "These are clearly your company's coupons, right?"

"Yup."

"Then, we're good here, right? I mean, I can leave and you guys can figure this out without me, right?"

"Yup, thanks..."

No -- thank you -- for reminding me why I never shop here...