The Food Sentence

I'm so confused. 
Like seriously. 
So very confused.

What happened?

So for the past little while I've been venturing to Wendy's once or twice a week.
Usually I go after I get off work, so I can have a chance to relax a little and get some writing done on story concepts I'm working on before I head home. 
-As for whatever reason, writing at home is difficult- 

And since I'm in a food place, I end up ordering food.
Specifically their Crispy Chicken Sandwich.
Because it's super tasty! lol. 
(It must be if I have it multiple times a week.) 
And with that sandwich I get fries and a drink.

For a while when my favorite cashier worked there. (I no longer see her when I come in so she's either changed shifts or quit. :( ) It was easy to get my order.
She would know it without having to ask.
But if she wasn't there I would just say "I want a Crispy Chicken Sandwich combo Size Small."
And I would get my sandwich, fries and a drink with no issue.

Well mostly no issue, there's the occasional cashier that's thrown off by the combo as the CCS doesn't usually come in a combo. But they quickly figure it out and I'd still get my food. 

But then...like a month ago? Recently I feel. Like after I got back from my vacation.
Something had changed.

It's so crazy how you can not go to a place for a couple of weeks and then go back and suddenly everything is different.
Because suddenly my "Crispy Chicken Sandwich Combo Size Small" was now totally complicated. 

Like now if I wanted that, then a manager had to become involved, hit buttons do a discount, that sort of thing. 
I'm like. O.o Huh?? 

But then there were cashiers who didn't know that the manager needed to be involved.
And so when I said "Crispy Chicken Sandwich Combo Size Small" 
They took it to mean the Crispy Chicken Sandwich in their 4 for $4 meal. 
Which was a sandwich, fries, a drink, and chicken nuggets. 

I guess they'd just recently added in the CCS to that deal? Who knows.
In any case, it suddenly was much more difficult to just get the sandwich combo without the chicken nuggets.

and me being myself...I don't like causing a stir. So I resigned myself to getting those chicken nuggets and spending like a dollar more on my food. (The chicken nuggets are pretty good too I just struggle to eat it all lol) 

Which made me want to venture to my Wendy's a little less....because I didn't want to get the 4 for $4 meal nor did I want to cause time delays in getting a manager involved to ring up the 4for$4 then take away the price of the chicken nuggets. etc.

Honestly, it's not always the easiest to get them to understand what I want. 
*exhales* 

Which case in point.

Last week, I wasn't feeling the best. And figured that I might need a bit more red meat protein in my diet.
So I ventured over to Wendy's to get my usual, but also to get a hamburger. 

And when I got up to the register I was like "Hey, question that 4 for $4 meal. Can the nuggets be substituted at all?" And the cashier was like "No." 
So I was like "Oh" and resigned myself to having to get the CCS, Nuggets, Fries, Drink AND then just a plain old hamburger. 
I told the cashier "Then I'll have the crispy chicken sandwich." I waited a beat and realized that I needed to say more. "As a combo." Figuring she'd figure it was the 4for$4 deal I meant as that's what everyone else seemed to think when I said Crispy Chicken Sandwich Combo size small. "and can I get a hamburger too." 

The cashier told me the price. Which a vaguely realized wasn't quite right, but then figured it had to be some sort of magic thing. 

But when I got my food....
I realized....I didn't have chicken nuggets on my tray. ()_() 
Just the CCS, the hamburger, fries and a drink.

A glance at my receipt told me. 
I hadn't ordered the 4for$4!!!!
WHAT?!?!

For the past couple weeks before that the cashiers had made me believe I could no longer get my sandwich as I'd originally gotten it without a huge hassle. That I would have to eat chicken nuggets with my meals now. 

But here I was. With my sandwich combo! 
Mind blown.
Like. HEY! *shakes head* 

Which made me wonder....
Was it the way I'd worded it the reason why I got what I actually wanted? 
As I'd said "I want the Crispy Chicken Sandwich....as a combo." and then waited for the cashier to ask me the size etc. 

So today.
I decided to try the different wording again. 
To the cashier I said. "Can I get the Crispy Chicken Sandwich? In a combo?"
"what size?" they asked.
"Small." I replied.
"What do drink?" they asked.
"Dr. Pepper." I replied.

And there. THERE. Thankfully.
They rang it up and the total came to my expected combo price.
For the first time in FOREVER!! 

I got what I wanted!
I didn't have to get the nuggets.
And I'm left so confused. 

How can.
"Can I get a Crispy Chicken Sandwich Combo size Small" create a different connotation from "Can I get a Crispy Chicken Sandwich. In a combo. Size small." 

Like literally it's verbal punctuation! That's all it is. I give pauses where I hadn't had pauses before.

And I don't get it.
How does one get me the 4for$4 and the other get me my usual combo?

*exhales*

Honestly I wonder if it's just in their heads that the CCS is part of that 4for$4 deal now and that if a person says CCS combo they mean that deal. 
But the pause of I want the sandwich. In a combo, tells them that it's not the deal that I'm talking about?

Words are weird. Language is weird. It's all weird.
*exhales*

Hopefully I can continue getting what I actually want now, now that I've figured out that I need to say my words slightly differently to get what I want. 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi