Why you left me?" asks Zach. Gregory smirks, pausing briefly from brushing his wavy hair.
"I'm not going with you to every store just to find a crumb cake, that"s ridiculous man, I have a life, did you find it, I hope you did."
"I didn't, just the lemon flavored, I'll go back to Drew's next week like I said I would."
"How was it?"
"Not bad."
"I know what that means."
"What's that?"
"Terrible".
"Elmira and everyone else likes it. Why you have to be different?"
Next week has finally arrived. Zach's excited and besides himself. He gets a chance once again to taste Brendan's Crumb Cake. Zach's hoping that Drew has more than enough, so he can buy three or four this time. He walks down the shady street. Trees leaves decorate the ground. The decoration looks like the sidewalk has body tattoos. Zach walks happily into Drew's store. The store is populated with teenagers laughing, hanging out and buying snacks.
"I know you have my crumb cake Drew", says Zach.
"Check where cookies are."
Zach finds it. The shelf is heavily stocked with Brendan's Crumb Cake. He picks up three and purchases it at the counter.
Upon arriving home, Zach goes to the store to purchase a juice, so his mouth doesn't get dry after eating the crumb cake. He buys a fruit punch and heads home. Before he heads home, Zach comes across a slim girl with tattoos eating Brendan's Crumb Cake. The cake is a great conversation piece, so he stops her midway through a bite. She covers her mouth before speaking.
"I'm glad the original is back in the market, but it doesn't taste the same. The lemon-flavored is better. But it has a spongy texture and taste. You tried it yet?"
"What's wrong with the original? I bought three. Please don't tell me I wasted money."
"It just doesn't taste right to me. There's a Brendan's Crumb Cake forum for those who love the cake. They give feedback on the new snacks. It was given a 6 out of 10. Check it out. And before I forget, the lemon flavored was given a 9.5 out of 10. It's been selling out. I don't see how, but it has. People are selling it for $20.00 online.
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"Only thing they had to do was put more product in the store, why mess with the recipe, I don't understand the logic", Zach says tearing open the package. He bites into the crumb cake.
"It doesn't taste the same. It's missing something."
"I know one thing, it tastes like they used less sugar, it isn't as sweet as it was before."
"You're right, this isn't right I waited a week for a sugar less, less crumbs too, check that out, look at the top, less crumbs and the size is reduced," says Zach.
"Uh huh, they cutting corners, they need to cut the cost, oh well, let me get out of here," the girl says.
"Let's exchange numbers."
"I'm ok."
The girl marches off.
Zach returns to the store. Drew's failing to deal with the teenagers youthful energy. He pulls out a megaphone and blasts directives.
The kids laugh. A few stay in the store.
Cupping his hands over his mouth, Zach tries to go sound for sound, but he fails miserably. He does a second attempt. This time he's successful because Drew finally puts the megaphone down.
"Drew, I want my money back, these don't taste the same."
"Say, what now?"
"I want my money back these don't taste like the ones I had last week".
"What did you get again?"
"Crumb cake."
"You and that crumb cake, you drove me crazy all last week and now you're saying that it doesn't taste the same, those didn't expire, I just got these."
"I didn't say, that it expired."
"Write the company, if I can't refund your money because something doesn't taste the same, that"s not my fault, I can only refund if the package is badly damaged, the food expired or the product went bad. I'd go out of business if I refunded every one's money because they didn't like something, there's usually a comments section or a address somewhere on the packaging."
"That's messed up."
"Get the lemon-flavored, those are doing really well, people seem to like them".
"It's not that good, it's garbage, I know what I'll do."
Zach scoots off. Once he arrives home, he avoids his mother. He doesn't want to hear her mouth about the crumb cake. The 'I told you so' is a tremendous strike to his ego. Because he never wants to be wrong and then to tell someone he's wrong especially his mother bothers him by making him feel like he's a failure. Instead of mentioning it to her. Zach builds a forum where he can discuss Brendan's crumb cake. He's his own administrator. Zach doesn't have to worry about comments being taken down and following a specific protocol. He can design the rules to benefit him. A truly open discussion board where people aren't censored or reprimanded for their comments. Even though from the looks of the other site he used, people were given true freedom of speech. Nothing looked sanitized. But, what if the site is ran by Brendan, the owner. And he takes the site down or if it isn't his what if he serves the administrator or administrators a cease and desist because he's unhappy about the comments. Or what if it's truly ran by the people?
He couldn't wait to find out. Zach had a job to do and that is voice an opinion on Brendan's crumb cake. So, he can tighten up and return the quality to its original form. Zach doesn't want Brendan to fail. He thinks he has a wonderful product that could flourish if he's smart enough to listen to the consumers. Will he listen or is he the type to go with his own understanding and insights.