The Donut Dispute

The Donut Dispute

“I’ll be home around 5:00 tonight dear,” Mr. Petrone shouted to his wife as he jetted out the front door. He hopped in his car and drove away. Today, Mr. Petrone was running a little late. He noticed that the clock in his car read 7:33am. He always tried to get to the shop, the donut shop that is, by 7:30am. But today he’d be lucky if he got there by 7:45am.

Around the same time that morning, Mr. Eric Shores was leaving for work as well. Mr. Shores was also running a bit late today. He hadn’t had time for breakfast, but figured he could stop by Doogie’s Donut Shop on his way to work. He kissed his wife good-bye and scurried out the front door. While making his way to his car he noticed a weed poking up through the walkway and decided to quickly pull it out. He discarded the weed and hopped into his car to head for Doogie’s Donut Shop.

At approximately 8:00am, Mr. Petrone pulled into the rear parking lot of Doogie’s Donut Shop. As he approached the employee entrance, he reached for his keys to unlock the door. To his dismay the keys were not in either of his pockets and he realized that he had left them on the kitchen counter in his hurry to leave the house. As Mr. Petrone walked around to the front of the shop to enter through the customer entrance, he scowled and grumbled to himself when he noticed that the “D” in the word Doogie’s was damaged. As he entered the shop, the sounds of customers and workers talking, the cash register racking in the money from sales, the coffee machines brewing coffee, and the mixer churning-up the donut dough weren’t enough to distract Mr. Petrone from his morning of unfortunate events. He griped quietly to himself all the way to his office in the back of the shop.

Moments later Mr. Shores pulled into the front parking lot of Doogie’s Donut Shop. Despite the fact that there were several cars in the parking lot, Mr. Shores was able to get a parking space near the front door and quickly get in line to place his order. When he got to the counter he ordered a dozen donuts, figuring that it would be a nice gesture to bring some for his work colleagues as well. Mr. Shores made his purchase and quickly got back into his car with his box of donuts.

As he was leaving the donut shop, Mr. Shores reached for one of the donuts and took a bite. But suddenly he stopped, both driving and eating. He noticed a strange rash on the hand holding the donut. Initially surprised by the situation, he quickly spit the bite of donut out of his mouth. When his surprise developed into curiosity and then dissatisfaction, Mr. Shores hastily drove back to the donut shop.

Ultimately feeling that the situation required a certain degree of urgency, Mr. Shores marched into the donut shop, sporting a determined demeanor, and went directly to the sales counter insisting to speak with the manager of Doogie’s Donut Shop. The counter attendant quickly ran to the back of the shop to notify Mr. Petrone that a customer had asked to speak with him. Mr. Petrone discontinued his inventory updates and halfheartedly headed toward the front of the shop to speak with Mr. Shores. The gentlemen exchanged pleasantries and introductions.

Initiating the conversation, Mr. Petrone stated, “I’m Dino Patrone, the manager of Doogie’s Donut Shop. How can I help you?” Mr. Shores explained what happened. He presented the rash on his hand to Mr. Petrone and asked, “What do you think could have caused this Mr. Petrone?”

Mr. Petrone quickly glanced at the rash presented by Mr. Shores and explained to the dissatisfied customer that it wasn’t possible that this rash could have come from the donut he had handled. Mr. Shores became frustrated with the stubborn manager. He insisted that he had to have gotten the rash from the donut; otherwise, he would have noticed it beforehand. Mr. Shores’ incessant accusations were greatly irritating Mr. Petrone at this point.

“You dare question me?” yelled Mr. Petrone. “You dare say that one of my donuts was capable of giving you a rash?”

“Yes, yes I do”, exclaimed Mr. Shores.

“Then tell me, Mr. Shores, why is it that you’re the only one who has this mysterious rash?” said Mr. Petrone furiously.

It was clear that both men were approaching their maximum tolerance level of one another. Mr. Shores sternly warned Mr. Petrone that he would file a complaint, and ultimately initiate a law suit against him and Doogie’s Donut Shop, if a refund for the donuts was not given, along with an apology for the altercation and trouble.

Upon hearing Mr. Shores’ threat, Mr. Petrone’s fist suddenly flew through the air and knocked Mr. Shores in the jaw. As soon as the argument turned physical, Mr. Shores felt it was in his best interest to apologize to Mr. Petrone for the accusations made, along with the threat of legal action; However, Mr. Shores’ continuous apologies were either ignored or unheard by the furious Mr. Petrone.

Mr. Petrone picked the irritating customer up, off his feet, and.....

If you want to read the ending of this story, it is available for purchase through Kindle download and Paperback version with illustrations; visit Amazon.com and search ‘The Donut Dispute’ or click the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/Donut-Dispute-Megan-Bald/dp/B09K1Z1M92/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1637515867&sr=8-1