Yesterday, I had a few free minutes before class and I was really hungry. For whatever reason I had a craving for a chicken pizza slice. Mmmm. I went across the street to this place I normally go to grab a quick slice.
Unfortunately, they didn't have any chicken tomato slices left. The guy offered to put chicken on any cslice for me, so I grabbed a tomato slice. I figured the end result would be the same - chicken, tomato, and cheese on a pizza slice.
A chicken tomato slice is normally $3.00, and this is what I assumed I would be charged.
To my surprise, however, she asked for $4.50. I did the math in my head, desperately trying to figure out how she arrived at that number. It just didn't compute. And I even as desensitized to high prices as I am living in NYC (a drink for less than $10 or a beer for less than $6 is bargain), there just seemed something inherently wrong with a $4.50 slice of pizza.
Since I couldn't rationalize this price in my head, I asked her how she had. She said, and I quote, “See, the chicken alone is $3.00. But you had chicken added to the tomato slice, which is $2.55. So, with tax, I should have charged you $6. But I only charged you $4.50.“
At first I thought she was kidding, but then I realized that, in fact, she was dead serious.
I proceeded to explain her that rationale works fine if I were to buy two slices, but in this case I had only bought one. I didn't have a chicken tomato slice as a topping to a tomato slice, I had chicken as a topping to a tomato slice. And I also explained to her that, had they not run out of the normal chicken tomato slice, I wouldn't have had to order a 'special order'.
I thought I had won her over, as she seemed receptive to this idea - until she explained that this is why I received my 'discounted price' of $4.50, instead of having to pay the full $6.
At this point, I was running out of time and going to be late to class if I didn't act soon. I was faced with a tough decision: do I continue to try to win my battle and risk being late and not having time to eat the precious slice, do I just walk out, or do I suck it up and pay the $4.50 she wants?
I listened to my gut (literally) and made what I now realize was the wrong decision: I paid the 'discounted price'. The pizza was pretty good, but that's irrelevant at this point.
It's not really so much that I paid so much for the slice. The money is irrelevant. What bothers me the most is that I wasn't persuasive enough to convince her otherwise. I paid $4.50 for a slice, and when I walked out of there she still didn't understand why it was ridiculous. She still thought she was giving me a deal.
I should have been able to convince her that she was wrong. Instead, I'm left doubting whether I even belong in law school.
I feel violated. The pizza woman violated me yesterday.