Mmmm....Blizzard....

So, yesterday I had a Dairy Queen experience that made me scratch my head.

I have one of those reusable coupon cards that has various deals at various businesses listed on the back. One of those deals was for a Dairy Queen near us: buy one blizzard, get a 16 oz blizzard for 99 cents.

So, yesterday it was about a million degrees, so we decided to go to DQ. We had a brief discussion in the car about the specifics of the deal: "Does it say what size you have to buy, or just which size is 99 cents?" "Is a 16 oz a small?" "Probably," we reasoned. These deals typically are for the cheapest size, right?

So we get up there, order two small blizzards, and she gives us our total ($5 and something). (sidenote: If I'd been driving, I probably would have told her about the coupon card when we ordered. Craig, however, thought it would simplify things to have the conversation at the window. Probably not a good idea.)

We pulled up to the window, and through the window I could see her making our blizzards. me: "Are those 16 oz cups? They look smaller than 16 oz..." Craig: "Maybe it's by weight and not by volume?"

So, she opens the window and gives us our total again. Craig hands her the card and some money. She looks at the card and says, "Oh...actually, this card is for the 16 oz blizzard. That's the next size bigger." She asked us if we wanted her to make new ones, but that seemed like a waste of time and ice cream, so we said no. Still confused by the logic of it, I leaned over and asked, "Sooo...the smaller size is going to be more money?" She kind of looked at me quizzically and said, "Well...the coupon...it's for the 16 oz size...."

Right. Okay, I just wanted to make sure I had it right. That we were paying more money for less ice cream. Just checking.

The funny part is that I know that I think just as illogically a lot of the time. Craig even asked me, "If you were working here and in her position right now, what would you have done?" Right. Gone by the letter of the coupon, not the spirit of the coupon, I'm sure. Craig joked, "She's in high school--she's not taking that class, 'Thinking Outside of the Box.'..." And, as we all know, I didn't take that class either :)

Still, on the other side of it, it was kind of funny. That coupon card cost me $10. So far, we've only lost money with it.