Farewell, Central Park

I have gone out of my way to get my burgers from Central Park. They’re an independent franchise, make good burgers and even better fries, and I’ve never had a problem with them… well, not initially anyway.

Years and years ago (a decade or more) the Central Park by my place of employment in Clearfield, Utah, closed up (since then it’s been about a dozen different coffee houses or taco joints). There was another Central Park about 10 minutes up the road in Sunset, Utah. So I started going there… not as frequently, mind you, but I went out of my way to go there, driving past a dozen or so fast-food joints in the process.

Some time ago they started charging an extra 10 cents if you wanted a tomato on your burger (this because of the increasing costs of tomato’s, so they said). So I paid the extra dime.

Then I started to notice, I wasn’t getting the tomato most times. By the time I noticed I was already half way back to work, so I just forgot about it. No biggie, it’s just a dime…

Finally, they forgot the tomato enough times that the next time I went I very curtly stated "I have been paying extra for tomato on my burger and have not been getting one; the next time that happens it will be my last time coming here." Of course I fully expected them to spit on my burger (well, maybe not "expected" but you get the point). That time, they got it right… tomato was in there and the burger was good.

The next time I went, I forgot to drop the ultimatum — and in all honesty, I shouldn’t have to. I checked: no tomato.

Some might think it’s a silly thing and I should raise such a ruckus about ten measly cents, but it’s the fact that even though I ask for a tomato, even though they write it on the order, and even though I pay EXTRA for it, they don’t seem to care enough to get it right.

So this is farewell, I won’t be doing business with you any more. There are plenty of other places that will gladly take my money, and will get my order right.