Yesterday I went to my eldest nephew's graduation, and it was very hot out, and just walking a block after parking was giving my parents heat stroke. So before going in I decided to go get some drinks from a Taco Bell nearby. My parents just wanted large waters, I wanted soda and a soft taco. But when I got in there, they don't take orders at the register anymore. It's all done via a large self-service tablet in the back.

Right as I get in line, some kid nearby asks me to buy him something. I bluntly said no, and went back to waiting. The teenage guy in front of me was taking forever, and then his card came up short for the order. And then he got on the phone with his mother, and started begging her to transfer him a dollar so he could complete the order. And the mom on the other end of the phone seemed to act like she couldn't speak English or something, because the guy kept telling her the situation over and over again, and she just didn't seem to understand. Other teenagers there started shouting at him that he was holding up the line, and I ended up pulling a dollar out of my wallet and saying "For the love of god, HERE!", and told him to go settle things at the register. Which he tried to refuse at first, and then finally took the dollar and got out of the line. And that same nearby kid that asked me to buy him something also kept asking me for a dollar. They also asked an employee for free food.

The self-service machine had no way of ordering large waters along with the rest of my order. At the local Taco Bell in my area, waters of any size were free with food order. But they apparently don't do that anymore with the new system. They tried to give me two dinky little cups to fill with water to take to my parents, and the employee told me that's the only way they do free water. So I had to go back to the self service machine, and order two large sodas, just to get large waters for my folks. My mother kept calling me to hurry up over and over again, and then I finally managed to get out and hustle it over. My parents thought the whole story was hilarious, but never want to go into that restaurant again. I'll stick to their drive-thru.

On top of all that, my sister tried to boycott my nephew's graduation, all because he wanted to take a framed photo of my sister's ex-boyfriend that she basically pushed to suicide. It turned into a huge fight, and my sister said she wasn't going. But did finally show up at the last minute. I'm thankful we didn't sit anywhere near her, and she avoided us like the plague. My dad was the only one who got a good look at her, and said her face looked worse than ever. That's what drugs will do to people.