Austin is not as crazy about donuts as north Texas is -- there are only a handful of donut shops in the whole metro area -- but there's a Krispy Kreme about a mile from where I've been staying. About two weeks after I got here, I rode to the local bike shop to get a new helmet-mounted mirror, but I was 15 minutes too early -- they hadn't opened yet. I took the opportunity to visit Krispy Kreme, whose "HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW" sign was lit. (I maintain that if they're going to spell it that way, their slogan should be, "Putting the 'ugh' back in donuts!")
Anyhow, when Krispy Kreme's sign is lit, they give you a fresh, hot do(ugh)nut for free just for walking in the door. I ate my free one and had picked out another and was about to pay for it when I reached for my wallet and realized I'd left it at home. When I told the cashier that I'd forgotten my wallet, he gave me the second donut for free as well! I promised him I'd come back later and buy one.
Well, around 8:00 PM on New Year's Eve, Matt and I borrowed Gloria's car to run an errand. On the way we passed the Krispy Kreme, and I saw that the sign was lit, and I figured this was my chance to repay my karmic debt. The employees were busy filling drive-through orders and packing boxes for shipment to local convenience stores and so on, but I couldn't help noticing that at least half the hot, fresh donuts were going straight off the line into the trash. I asked the cashier about it, and he said there's no way to pause or slow the line once it's started, so sometimes supply exceeds demand.
He snagged us two free ones off the line, and then I asked to buy two more. He looked at the parade of donuts bound for the trash and said he'd give me six for the price of two. But when he rang it up, I noticed that he'd charged me for all six. I didn't say anything about it until Matt and I got outside -- I'd intended to pay for the previous free donut anyway, not to get more free ones! -- but Matt said it didn't seem right that I was charged for six when I only wanted two. I said the guy was obviously busy and just made a mistake, and besides I was feeling virtuous for paying off my karma!
As we were fastening our seatbelts, the cashier came running up to my window, apologized profusely, and gave me another dozen for free! So I went in the door expecting to get four for the price of two and wound up with twenty for the price of six! Matt and I managed to dispatch them all, but it was a struggle. The "ugh" is officially back in donuts as far as I'm concerned, at least for a while!
5.8 mi
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