I was in high school when the Jack in the Box fast food chain introduced breakfast sandwiches: egg, cheese, and meat on a croissant roll. I was an ovo-lacto vegetarian, so, ordering at the drive-through with my father, we ask for “A Breakfast Croissant, but with no meat.”
The chipper voice on the other side of the intercom says “Great! Would you like a Bacon Croissant without the bacon, a Sausage Croissant without the sausage, or a Supreme Croissant without bacon or sausage?”
My father and I look at each other. “Is there … any difference between those sandwiches except for the kind of meat?” asks my father.
The voice responds “Well, the Supreme Croissant costs twenty cents more!”
“By all means!” my father says. “Give us the Supreme Croissant so that we can pay twenty cents more!”
“OK!” says the voice.
“No!” says Dad. “We don’t want to pay twenty cents more, miss.”
“Oh,” says the voice. “Which one do you want?”
My father and I look at each other again. “Um…” says Dad. “Give us a bacon croissant without the bacon.”
“Great! I’ll have your total at the window,” she says.