No Soup for You!!!

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's been said to death. Next thing you know, I'm going to revive "Where's the Beef" and "Show Me the Money . . ." But it can't be helped - no other title could do this post justice.

What in the hell has happened to customer service??? At about 10:30 this morning, during a work conference call, I started day dreaming about my lunch. I like to have a lunch plan if I can - it keeps me from wandering around aimlessly outside with a wad of licorice in my mouth during the noon hour. Today was the perfect day to head to Cosi, the hear/there/everywhere chain with the subpar coffee and the flat bread sandwiches. "Why was today the perfect day," I hear you cry . . . Because on Wednesday at Cosi, the soup of the day is Autumn Vegetable with Mushrooms. I like to think of myself as a soup connoisseur, particularly during the winter months. And I am here to tell you Autumn Vegetable is in a league of its own. It's fantastic. So I headed out for my soup at 11:45. Early, yes, but this particular Cosi is such a clusterf$#& with its lunch lines that I thought it best to beat the rush.

This Cosi spent almost a year closed for "renovation;" when it reopened, it was a bigger mess than ever. You walk in, and it's chaos. There are several placards hanging down from the ceiling that say, "Order Salads Here," "Order Sandwiches Here," and "Order Soups Here." While "Salads" and "Sandwiches" had dedicated Disney World roped off lines, "Soup" did not. So I snaked through the empty "Sandwiches" line and then moved to my right to stand under the "Order Soups Here" sign (like after they spin the wheel on The Price Is Right). The one employee remotely near "Order Soups" was finishing up a sandwich for a guy who entered before me. After he handed it off to the customer, he looked to a girl behind me (who certainly arrived after me) in the Sandwich Disney Line and asked for her order. Well, you can't walk all over me - I spoke up, "Um, I just wanted to get some soup." No joke, this guy has the gall to gesture to his right (my left), pointing to the Disney ropes, and say, "The line starts back there." Dumbfounded, I responded incredulously, "but I went through the line!" And I did - even though there was no one in it and I could have totally skipped to "Order Soups." He kept arguing with me but begrudingly gave me my soup (I watched carefully to make sure he did not spit in it). Seriously, though. What is Cosi trying to prove? Even if I had skipped the Disney Line, the signs are totally confusing, and how much time out of this guy's day is it going to take to pick up a ladle and give me my freaking soup. Good God. I'm getting ready to write my nastygram to Cosi as I speak. I hate rude behavior, and I won't tolerate it!