apple juice

I’ve been to North Memorial Hospital a couple times recently. It’s a fine hospital, but they have one major customer service flaw.

The ATM only dispenses $20s.

Ok, that’s not actually the flaw. The flaw is that the parking garage doesn’t accept cards.

Ok, actually, that’s not the flaw either. The flaw is the fact that the parking attendant is invariably crabby and pissed because people hand him $20s all day long. He has hand-written signs all over his booth to let everyone know in advance that the crisp new andrew jackson they hold in their sweaty hands will make him angry.

Normally, I’d apologize for the fact that I only have a twenty, and dig through my coin tray to see if I can make $3.00 from sticky pennies and nickels. I never can, but I think he appreciates the effort.

This time, after making a quick trip that fell into the 0-30 Minutes – $1.00 range, I handed him my fresh-from-wells-fargo twenty dollar bell.

“Got anything smaller?” he barked

“The ATM doesn’t dispense singles” I retorted.

I never retort. It felt kind good.

He proceeded to count out 8 quarters, 2 singles, a five and a ten.

“Have a nice day…” I said sheepishly as I drove away.

So North Memorial…. seriously. Either accept credit cards in your parking garage like every other hospital in the city does, or offer free parking. Or get a new parking attendant that doesn’t get angry at something that I can’t control.