Sunday, April 29, 2007

Four digit zip codes & conspiracies.

I love how people get so agitated that they do not even listen to what's being told to them. Guy comes into the Chevron today, first thing he says is "Every time I come here this 5 digit zip code thing never works"* (please ignore the bad grammar, A Paperback Writer). Jim, the guy helping him, tells him that it is for an ID check. The guy says he doesn't have any 5 digit zip code, his has only 4 digits. Jim says "No, it wants the zip code of the billing address on your credit card", and the guy reiterates "I don't have a 5 digit zip code, I only have a 4 digit one". My guess is that he wasn't hearing the zip code part and was thinking PIN instead. So Jim just looks at me, shrugs and asks the guy if he want's to pre-pay inside. Well, as Jim leads the guy through the process, the guy does things his own way rather than listening to the directions, finally gets thoroughly irritated, and says "Forget it, I'll go to a real gas station." I wanted to ask him if it would be in a country with a 4 digit zip code, but I was busy helping someone else. Ahh, c'est la vie.


*At our Chevron, when you use your credit card outside, you have to enter the zip code of the address on the card - as an ID check.



And, A Paperback Writer, no, I didn't wear a tie. I've become convinced that for me to do so would cause a rip in the space-time continuum. Not that I have any kind of phobia about it or anything...........

1 comment:

A Paperback Writer said...

"Every time I come here this 5 digit zip code thing never works"

Actually, all this sentence needs is a comma after the word "here." The words "this" and "code" are adjectives modifying the noun "thing," while "digit" is an adverb modifying "zip," which, in turn modifies "code," and "5" is an adverb modifying "digit."
Simply put (since you are now saying "What the *&^^?"), the simple subject/verb pair here would be "thing works," which is grammatically correct. (Think: this thing never works. That's really what the sentence means.)
You didn't really want to know all that, did you? Oh well.
Oh, and do warn me if you're ever going to wear a tie; I want to be there to see you change space-time continuums (continua?).