Convenience Store Counters of the Broken-Word Kind

Val is a little short of material this week, but she can always work herself into a rant. With hardly any effort!

Hick has become obsessed with his Casey's membership thingy. You can earn points with every purchase, and get offers for free stuff. He somehow locked himself out of his own account, so started a new one using my phone number! But that's not the rant!

Every time I buy something at Casey's, like scratchers or gas, I now have to punch in my account number. It takes extra time, but I do it. For Hick.

On Wednesday, I knew I had earned some really good points for Hick. He usually just buys donuts every morning (secretly, he thinks), and gas once a week. I buy scratchers at a Casey's, several times a week. They cost more than donuts.

I was over at the School-Turn Casey's after getting a trim of my lovely lady-mullet at Terrible Cuts. I had $45 worth of winning scratchers to cash in. I bought four $5 tickets, and took the rest back in money. I told Hick when I got home,

"I got you however many points you get for a $20 purchase!"

Hick was excited. "I got 20 points for my...stuff, and water, and it only cost two dollars."

He looked up his account. It showed three purchases that day. Two of them gave him points, and one did not.

"I was at Casey's twice today. It gave me the points. But your transaction didn't."

"I have the receipt! It's still in my purse. She gave it to me, so I just stuffed it in there. Does it show points on it?"

"I don't know. I usually don't take my receipt. Let me look. No. There's no points showing. Wait! Maybe they don't give points on lottery."

"They've always asked me if I have an account, and if I want to enter my information."

"Huh. Maybe it was because you didn't pay for your tickets. You cashed IN tickets."

"Why should THAT matter? They didn't give me scratchers for FREE! Those winners were worth money. I could have taken the whole $45 back. In CASH."

"Yeah. That doesn't seem right. I'll ask them girls tomorrow when I  get...when I go there."

So...Hick was told that I didn't get the points because I paid with lottery winners. We devised a new plan. I won't cash in my tickets at Casey's. I'll cash them in at The Gas Station Chicken Store, or Orb K, and spend the CASH on tickets I get at Casey's.

That's what I did on Thursday. Paid only cash, for scratchers and gas. This was over in Sis-Town. The clerk told me to have a nice day, as I was waiting for that little card-reading gizmo to let me enter my points.

"Wait. I was putting in my account number for the points."

"Oh. I already cleared out the register."

"But I was trying to enter my points."

"Well, I'm pretty fast about ringing things up. Do you want me to void it?"

"Yes. So I can enter my points."

She punched a lot of buttons on her register. Asked for my phone number, which is the account number. Then said,

"Okay. Your points are in."

When I got home, I told Hick I wasn't sure about that transaction. It seemed kind of fishy. I thought she was going to re-enter it so I could put in my points. But then SHE did it. He looked up his account.

"There's no transaction on there. You didn't get the points."

"DANG IT! That was a $35 transaction!"

It's bad enough that Casey's doesn't count cashed-in scratchers as money for a purchase, even though they will hand you cash when you redeem them. It's bad enough if they just tell you that you're too late to put in your account number and get your points. But to deliberately LIE about putting those points in FOR you...

That's a whole 'nother level of ranting.