Thanks, but no thanks
Last Sunday, we took the kids to eat at Andy’s after church. The kids love eating at Andy’s. Second only to visiting the giant gum ball machine is the joy of selecting a cheap toy from the display case after they finish eating. We punch a token out of the bottom of the cardboard classic car in which their meals are delivered, and they exchange the token for one of those I-could-buy-three-thousand-of-these-things-for-$1.95-from-OrientalTrading.com-type toys (most of which end up in the T-R-A-S-H about three days later). Recently, Andy’s decided to start requiring multiple tokens for these oh-s0-amazing trinkets. Most of the toys now take a 4 token trade, but there are one or two that the kids can get for just 2 tokens. The first time we ate there after the new system was in place, I remember thinking, “Great. Something else to stuff into my wallet,” as I stuffed their 3 tokens in my wallet until our next “Andy’s experience.” I was all prepared to do the same this time, but Kevin glanced at the trinket list and saw a few “2’s” and then the kids were headed to the toy counter with tokens in hand. As it turns out, our favorite Andy’s had only one choice worth 2 tokens. The girls were pleased. They like dress-up dinosaurs with removable and interchangeable costume stickers just fine. Ask my mom just how many times Zoe’s dino changed outfits on the way home.:)
Adam was not too impressed with the dinos. The lady at the counter saw the two tokens in his fingers and assumed that he too wanted the dinosaur dress-ups. She handed them to him, and then put out her hand for his tokens. Adam showed none of what he was thinking on his face, nor did he offer the lady any words. He wasn’t unpleasant about it at all. He just walked around the back of the glass case where she stood, threw the dress-up dinosaurs back into the case, and walked over to give me his tokens. No words were necessary. She heard his “thanks, but no thanks” loud and clear, and I heard, “Mom, could you keep these in your wallet for me?”
