How … does a fast-food restaurant run out of sweet iced tea at 8 p.m. on a Wednesday night? Hmmmmm … wouldn’t happen if the teqa was brewed.

This happened to me Wednesday night on my supper break. I won’t name the restaurant, but it sells burgers and has to do with royalty. That might narrow it down some.

This wasn’t the first time I have had issues with this particular store. I had stopped going to any of this chain’s locations at all, in fact, for much of the year. It was a trip to a location on the other side of town that soured me on this chain earlier in the year. The alleged great new tea was horrible and I figured I didn’t need to have (name censored)  in my rotation.

On Tuesday night, I went to this particular chain on my 30-minute supper break. I got a chicken sandwich and forgot how good that sandwich was at this chain. I remember when it came out back in 1979 (along with a steak sandwich, which I still miss). I eat them plain (who needs anything on chicken?) and had to wait for them, but it was worth the wait. They were hot and juicy, to steal someone else’s old slogan (their hamburgers haven’t been juicy in years). I also got onion rings and sweet tea. The rings were great (they are the only ones I eat anywhere) but I was hoping the tea would be better than it was the last time I ordered it months ago. Nope. It was Nestea. I would put money on it … I know what fast-food Nestea tastes like (I used to get it at a Central Park location. Ever eaten at Central Park? There used to be one in Conway, S.C. Good burgers and fries.).

Great meal … so I went back at supper Wednesday night to get the same order. Sandwiches, rings, tea. I kept asking the person on the orderboard if the tea was brewed. He kept telling me it was. I asked three times and he kept telling me it was.

Of note: I am a kidney dialysis patient. Protein is good for me (meat, chicken, etc.) NO French fries or baked potatoes or brown drinks (Coke, Pepsi), because of the phosperous contained. Also, water and BREWED tea. Big difference. Chick-fil-A, Bojangles, McDonalds and most other fast food restaurants have brewed tea. Nestea in bottles and in dispensers HAS phosperous and I’m not supposed to drink it.

End of note. So, my bill rings up at 7.74. I pulled forward, had to wait about three minutes for the truck in front of me, then pulled up. I paid, and about two minutes later, the window opened and I thought he was going to ask me to pull forward as I had Tuesday night while my food was prepared.

Instead, the kid who insisted that the tea was brewed informed me that the restaurant was out of sweet tea. At 7:59 at night. Stunning. And very weak and sad. I told whoever was nearby inside that I can’t drink green tea (it’s on the can’t-drink list), unsweetened tea, brown colas, anything without caffeine (I’m at work until 12:30 a.m.) … and I was exasperated by now. Someone inside asked if I wanted my money back and noting Chick-fil-A is next door, I answered in the affirmative.

I didn’t get 7.74 back. I got a couple of ones and a dime or so. I got stiffed … but I didn’t feel like going back for my money. Thirty minutes goes fast, especially when you have driven half the time to the place you want food from. A girl opened the window and gave me some money back and told me that the tea comes in a box (gee). Kidding, right? I knew the kid had been telling me a story because I know what fresh brewed tea tastes like. But I got stiffed, too.

This … is not customer service. Clark Howard would call it customer no-service. I have worked in customer-service intense organizations before, and something like this would be something close to grounds for dismissal or probation.

I expect better from this chain. I have been eating the chain’s food since the 1970s when a location opened in Columbia, S.C. It would have nice had someone asked if they could do anything … but I’ll be dagged if I ever go back to this particular store (like one person makes a difference). There are two outstanding chains on wither side of this particular location, one being the best of all. I sent a scathing e-mail to the chain’s Web site when I got back to work Wednesday night before I clocked back in, and I also sent the e-mail to Planet Feedback Thursday morning. I love that site. You should go there if you ever have a complaint with a business. It gets results. I have friends that have gotten food, hardware and other things after complaining. Companies read that site.

I’m tired of writing. I have a taste for a chicken sandwich.

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