var json_comments = new Array("
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AMetamorphosis
October 29, 2008 3:06 PM
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When I drove by our local Taco Hell @ 5:45 they were lined up all the way outside the door and halfway around the building ...


Really, is a crappy 99 cent taco worth all this?

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7 replies
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Ubik2501
October 30, 2008 5:39 PM
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@AMetamorphosis: I worked at a Dunkin' Donuts back in 2000 when they had their anniversary \"One Free Donut Per Person\" giveaway. You have no clue how many times I had to specify the rules to people who were trying to get as many as a dozen donuts out of me that day, and how many times I nearly called the cops because of violent customers. The line went out the door of the shop, partially because belligerent customers were holding things up.

You have no idea how piggish and irrational people can be when free things are at stake. These things can actually be dangerous for the people behind the counter, especially if there's only one person (I was working alone that afternoon, which made it much worse).

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mattarse
October 29, 2008 8:34 PM
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@AMetamorphosis: Yes it is, Oh yes it is....

Ofcourse I live in a country sadly lacking in Taco Hell which may skew my opinion ;)

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ninjatoddler
October 30, 2008 4:06 AM
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@mattarse: In that case you've been missing out on getting an upset stomach.

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Skunky
October 29, 2008 7:53 PM
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@AMetamorphosis: Of course it's worth it, it means that we all don't have to spend our \"At least I have an f'in dollar\" dollar. :)

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Adisharr
October 29, 2008 3:09 PM
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@AMetamorphosis:

A quick survey of the clientele would probably provide great insight.

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AMetamorphosis
October 29, 2008 3:10 PM
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@Adisharr:


Man, I LOVE free stuff as much as the next person, possibly more 'cause I'm cheap ( lol ) but I certainly am not willing to get arrested for one ... and a crappy one @ that ... lol

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Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->
October 29, 2008 3:06 PM
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The Taco Bell I went to was enforcing a one person one taco rule. I think it's b/c they can only \"credit\" one taco per order. Also, unless you go out and check the car, how do you know the driver isn't lying?

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3 replies
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stinerman
October 29, 2008 9:27 PM
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@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->:
They didn't even bother ringing mine up. It wasn't on my receipt at all (I also ordered a yummy double beef burrito).

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Corporate_guy
October 29, 2008 3:35 PM
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@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: You can see how many people are in the car before you hand them the food. You didn't charge for them, so there is no problem with withholding the tacos after ordering.

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Anonymous
October 29, 2008 3:58 PM
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@ Git Em SteveDave loves this guy--> : Actually when I worked there in high school (3-4 years ago), there was a button called 'Promo free' and you could ring anything up for free, no problems at all. I did this often for my friends that came through. The Taco Bells are still using the same systems and probably the same OS.

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gggtur
October 29, 2008 3:07 PM
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Hey, these are hard economic times. Not everyone can spring 59 cents for a taco these days!

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2 replies
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LiquidGravity
October 29, 2008 3:43 PM
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@lawnmowerdeth: I just looked it up on their site.
Crunch tacos = $0.89 + tax
Soft tacos = $0.99 + tax

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TheKeg
October 29, 2008 4:20 PM
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@LiquidGravity: but they'll spend a couple bucks in gas idling waiting for their free taco.

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Raiders757
October 30, 2008 9:48 PM
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@TheKeg:


No doubt, and on top of that, time is money. If lines are longer than normal, is it really worth the wait? Be it in your car waisting gas, or inside, a free taco just isn't worth dealing with all the extra morons in front of you.

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FreemanB
October 29, 2008 3:07 PM
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I can see that as a reasonable restriction. The person taking the order through the intercom has no way to tell how many people are in the vehicle. Once the vehicle pulls up, you could run into problems with tinted windows, small children, etc. It would slow down the whole process and be a pain on the person working the window. Regardless, don't sit there demanding something until the point they have to call the police to get you to move. Just get out and go inside for your taco!

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1 replies
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Difdi
October 29, 2008 4:35 PM
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@FreemanB: If a business doesn't want to provide a special offer via the drive-through, they should disclaim it in the offer. Changing the terms after the offer is just sleazy.

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JohnDeere
October 29, 2008 3:08 PM
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way to go taco bell, waste tax payer money for not knowing your own official rules. i think they owe the police dept a little money.

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3 replies
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Limewater
October 29, 2008 3:56 PM
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@JohnDeere: Dude, you have to pay a cop the same whether he's filling out a police report or sitting in his car sniping ebay auctions between calls.

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JohnDeere
October 29, 2008 6:42 PM
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@Limewater: well it hadnt been done before i wouldnt have suggested it to be done now. this happens all the time.

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MSUHitman
October 29, 2008 3:09 PM
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I know someone that works there and according to Taco Bell's corporate policies, one car = one customer. If everyone in the car wanted a free taco, they had to park and go inside, hence the line to get in the door the above poster mentioned.


There was someone at my friend's store that was irate over this rule because she said she couldn't walk. He wanted to say then how are you driving a car but he valued his job too much.


I told him to submit his stories from yesterday to notalwaysright.com.

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4 replies
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alexcassidy
October 29, 2008 10:35 PM
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@MSUHitman: Valued his job at Taco Bell? I've worked at Taco Bell. Nobody values that job, they are simply resigned to their fate.

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Kimaroo - 100% Pure Natural Kitteh
October 29, 2008 3:32 PM
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@MSUHitman: There are hand controls for drivers who can't walk.. but they are usually also equipped with wheelchairs or whatever so they can get out of the car.

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redkamel
October 30, 2008 1:42 AM
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@Kimaroo: if you have a broken ankle you can drive a car but cant walk.

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RamV10: The Axeman Returneth
October 30, 2008 3:54 PM
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@redkamel: if you can't walk because you broke your ankle, you shouldn't be driving either.

How would you set the parking brake without the left foot? How would you clutch? Just because you CAN do something stupid that endangers others doesn't mean you should.

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Cordfucious v 2.0.1
October 30, 2008 9:02 PM
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@RamV10: my parking break is in the middle, pulled by hand...... and an amputee is doing something the endagers me, because he wants to be mobile... GROW UP and experience more than whats in your hole....

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selianth
October 29, 2008 3:32 PM
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@MSUHitman: There are lots of reasons that someone safely driving a car might have trouble walking.

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RodAox
October 29, 2008 3:10 PM
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I bet there are people who drive around for half an hour visiting different taco bells withing the 20 mile radius of where they live just to get extra free tacos...

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3 replies
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Kicken
October 29, 2008 3:18 PM
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@RodAox:
I did. I got 7 tacos and a drink for 3 dollars, and half an hour of my time.

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Knippschild
October 29, 2008 11:04 PM
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@Kicken: Technically that's fraud. The terms state that you may only receive one taco in this promotion.

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Kicken
October 30, 2008 2:05 AM
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@Tankueray: One, and it wasn't even mine. Car pool ftw.

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RodAox
November 7, 2008 5:23 PM
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@Kicken: free tacos and saving the environment now thats progressive....

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tande04
October 29, 2008 3:10 PM
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I had so little trouble getting mine that I didn't think the one I went to was participating in the promotion at first.


It wasn't free free though. Cost me $.01.

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2 replies
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AMetamorphosis
October 29, 2008 3:12 PM
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@tande04:


( grin ) ... and possibly a little heartburn :-)

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ivanthemute
October 29, 2008 5:58 PM
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@AMetamorphosis: Heartburn and .02 for me (damn sales tax)

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AMetamorphosis
October 29, 2008 7:30 PM
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@ivanthemute:


Thats rotten ... in PA we have no sales tax on food ... but then again, ( grin ) is Taco Hell truly considered \"food\" ?

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Moosehawk
October 29, 2008 3:15 PM
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Damn. I knew after going inside to get my taco I should have driven around the drive-thru. There was no one in the drive-thru, I figured the promotion was for inside only

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kepler11
October 29, 2008 3:16 PM
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I really hate organizations that don't think through free-type giveaways, which cause chaos and annoyance for everyone involved. It can even cause injury and violence (google for Walmart/Ikea/Apple laptop auction store opening riots, or in India, where people get crushed to death at these types of things). Taco Bell did this stupid promotion with no restrictions, which basically means you have no idea what's going to happen at your stores because of your idiocy.

How difficult would it have been, to create an online tool that would give out vouchers/coupons to people for the free taco? It could limit it by store, so that there's not going to be a stampede at any one place? And so that everyone knows how many tacos they're going to receive, no questions or issues.

poor thinking and planning leads to ridiculousness like this.

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4 replies
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shepd
October 29, 2008 9:49 PM
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@kepler11:

Totally f'in stupid. Having participated in many crazy promotions and limited stock events myself (managed to get THREE Wiis the week they were out by sleeping in line several nights), smart stores that don't want to be sued make it so simple to avoid such stupidity.

The night before you open for the crazy limited stock promotion, you print vouchers numbered 1 through to the stock limit. 1 hour before opening, the guy that opens the store starts at the head of the line and passes one to each person as he goes down the line. People stick the vouchers in their pockets, and the dumbasses that didn't heed the warning of the last legitimate person in the line go home, since they know they won't get one without a voucher.

I suppose someone might start killing the people ahead of him for their vouchers, but that could happen either way... If anyone rushed the guy with the vouchers, they'd just be invalidated and new ones printed--and the guy doing the stupidity would be duly beaten by the freezing crowd.

We do have one event that isn't organized as well, where they do sell used Apple comptuers (and other junk) for as low as $25 (A 1 Ghz eMac for myself! Nyahhhh!) or other stuff for ridiculously low prices (20\" monitors for $0.99, etc). Although people are better behaved there, there is a crazy rush into the place. No crushes yet, but it will happen someday, I'm sure. Shhhh, it's a secret!

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volenti non fit injuria
October 29, 2008 5:23 PM
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@kepler11: nice idea, but the taco bell location i went to was giving free tacos whether you asked for it or not.


if you ordered, let's say, a triple steak burrito, they asked if you would like a free taco with that. one dude ordered a volcano taco and they gave it to him for free.


i walked up with my hands in my pocket and said i'd like a free taco please. they handed me a receipt and like 2-3 minutes later i was eating my taco.


as a joke (or to flirt with the girl), one of the employees said the free tacos were ONLY if you know who stole the base. the girl in the front was baffled and started lookin around the room and at the rest of us in line for answers...so I was nice and said Jason Bartlett. kinda corny way to flirt, if you ask me.

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AMetamorphosis
October 29, 2008 3:22 PM
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@kepler11:


Very good solution about the vouchers!
You might want to share this with the company as its a great idea!

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Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->
October 29, 2008 3:22 PM
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@kepler11: They did it last year as well. Didn't hear reports about idiots getting arrested.

As for planning, it is impossible to make anything idiot-proof, because idiots are so damn ingenious.

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brent_r
October 29, 2008 3:18 PM
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I got trapped in the tacobell parkinglot for a little bit because rude folks lined up for the drive thru wouldn't leave me any room to get out of my parking space.

To make matters worse, they weren't even lined up where they were supposed to be.

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Pessimippopotamus
October 29, 2008 3:19 PM
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Sooooo... It's a fraud if you go to say more than one Taco Bell and ask for a free taco?

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1 replies
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Corporate-Shill
October 29, 2008 6:00 PM
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@Parkington:


Yes.


Are you going to get caught? Most likely no. Unless you drive up in the local HS School Bus #321 with 70 students aboard the bus and then visit another store and do the same thing. Store #5 will have heard of your exploits and the police will be waiting for you.

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twophrasebark
October 29, 2008 3:27 PM
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Pity the franchisees who always take the hit for these promotions that corporate comes up with.

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Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->
October 29, 2008 3:27 PM
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According to Taco Bell's rules:

To obtain the Free Taco, consumers must visit any participating Taco Bell® restaurant in one of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. (local time) on the Redemption Date only and request a Free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco.

So each consumer has to request their taco. As I read it, the driver would request his, then each of the passengers would individually have to request their own taco. Why not walk the 20 feet into the store. I did, and it was raining/snowing in NJ.

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NotATool
October 29, 2008 3:33 PM
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Seriously...if Taco Bell is going to play that game, just get out of the freakin' car and walk into the store.

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Corporate_guy
October 29, 2008 3:36 PM
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Can't wait for the, \"We are sorry for screwing up, here is another free taco day.\"

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tc4b
October 29, 2008 3:47 PM
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I didn't drive through, but I had no trouble getting mine, including one for my 10-month old (her older brother ate it), all on one bill. We all shared a soda and an extra bean burrito... not quite dinner, but a satisfying (if unhealthy) snack was had for less than three bucks. I know it's a little dishonest to take one for the baby, we were kind of banking on the proposition that the minimum-wage earning teen manning the register wouldn't give a crap.

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3 replies
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lihtox
October 29, 2008 11:18 PM
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@tc4b: Hey, the baby's a person. :) I get to drive in the HOV lane with my infant daughter, too.

I guess you could argue to the contrary, but then what's the cutoff? Heck, according to the Catholic church and the religious right, embryos are people from the moment of conception, so pregnant women should get TWO free tacos (and really, any woman could, because how are they going to know you aren't one week pregnant?)

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TCTH
October 29, 2008 5:49 PM
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@tc4b:See? Stereotyping DOES pay. ;)

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AMetamorphosis
October 29, 2008 3:55 PM
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@tc4b:


Re: \"the minimum-wage earning teen manning the register wouldn't give a crap.\"


I'm sure he didn't :-)

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ptocheia
October 29, 2008 4:04 PM
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We hit 3 Taco Bells for this, two drive-throughs and walked into one. One drive-through gave us one per person, the other gave us a total of one. So, the policy may have been different based on individual stores.

One thing I found strange about this promotion was how under-promoted it was in the actual store. I recently participated in the Chik-Fil-A 'cow appreciation day' free sandwich/combo giveaway, where the stores really seemed to get into it much more, one restaurant even having one of the Chik-Fil-A cows come out. I had kinda been expecting a similar experience at Taco Bell, maybe with locations having a world-series theme or other shenanigans to draw customers out and get their Taco Bell loyalty on, as it were. Instead the attitude seemed more of almost being disgruntled about having to give all of these tacos away. What a lost opportunity for some good marketing!

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logicalnoise
October 29, 2008 4:18 PM
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went to 2 tacobell drve thrus. on teh second one I saw the previous order for a few seconds before teh attendant erased the screen and they had 2 free tacos on their screen. i didn't bother asking about it since I had already gotten 1 other free taco.

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craptastico
October 29, 2008 4:53 PM
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If you want to get technical, any Taco Bell can opt out of the deal. Only participating locations offer the free taco, so it seems that each Taco Bell can make their own rules and refuse to give them out all together if they want to. Personally I think these giveaways are the worst idea, all it does is invite in freeloaders, and piss off legitimate customers

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thebluepill
October 29, 2008 5:05 PM
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There should be a button outside the drivethrough window that you can push to electrocute the entire staff inside to death.

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1 replies
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ZenMasterKel
October 29, 2008 7:37 PM
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@thebluepill: Whatever happened to the disemvowiling button????!????

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jeffsu
October 29, 2008 5:05 PM
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We got 1 free taco per person in the car... a woppen 89 cent taco each! good work, TB, I appreciate it. Unfortunately your communication to some of your branches must have sucked.

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Michael Bauser
October 29, 2008 5:05 PM
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You know, if somebody's really that hard up for a 59-cent taco, somebody should tell them they're wasting gasoline sitting in the drive-thru lane. Park the damn car, already.

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ZenMasterKel
October 29, 2008 5:05 PM
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Even if the Taco Bells are all within a few miles of each other, you're still losing money based upon the amount of gas and time you expend. Unless you're going to Taco Bell and buying other items, you're losing money.


The reason for the promotion is to get you into the store and buy other food. Not just show up like an idiot and get one free taco. Seriously, if a store said that they were giving away 89 cents free to each customer, would it really be that great of a deal, unless it was within walking distance, and on your way to somewhere you needed to be? I know people would idiotically think it's a good idea to spend a $1.00 in gas to get in return 89 cents, but from a logical standpoint, it's not a good deal.

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DePaulBlueDemon
October 29, 2008 5:45 PM
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I don't see why people would go to such great lengths to get a free taco from Taco Bell. Let's think about this... They had to make thousands of extra tacos that day... Did anyone think how the quality of said tacos would suffer?

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anker
October 29, 2008 5:51 PM
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How do you access the towns police dispatch log? Is it public information?

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Corporate-Shill
October 29, 2008 6:13 PM
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There is a reasonable test to \"freebies\".


When I was growing up we did a lot of traveling.... and the family dog was always along for the ride.


Going through drivethrus are a lot easier than visiting instore.... and Dad would always order a burger for the dog.... absolutely plain and would tell the order clerk they could skip the bun as well.


Maybe 20% of the time the \"Dog burger\" would be free. We were willing to pay for it, never asked for free, yet they would just give it to use. Other times we paid for the least expensive item on the menu... and received the \"Dog burger\".


When did we receive the special treatment? When the store wasn't busy.


Same thing applies to the \"free taco\". I got mine yesterday. Big Whoopee. And the store wasn't busy. (I guess it was in between the waves of people). Mom in front of me with young twin boys got more than 3 free tacos. She didn't ask, but she looked liked she could use the extra food. The clerk simply said \"I slipped in a couple extras\". Think the clerk gave extra tacos to the Cadillac SUV load of highschool football players that drove from store to store to get their free tacos?

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MyPetFly
October 29, 2008 6:45 PM
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And as you're waiting in the drive-through for your 99 cent taco, you're burning through a buck and a half's worth of gas.

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tdarkdz
October 29, 2008 6:59 PM
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I think that the one taco per person means per person ordering. With a drive thru, only the driver orders, only the driver pays and only the driver interacts with the Drive up window person.

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frodo_35
October 29, 2008 7:16 PM
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Once I went through the drive thru at Mcdonalds and asked for a full order of fries as there was only about 2/3 an order. The manager told me that is a full order so I asked for my money back. He told me I had to come inside for a refund. I shut my van off right there and then and asked him how many more customers he wanted to lose over a full order of fries. Needless to say with a full line behind me he gave me my money back ( although I could see it was killing his pwr tripping 19 year old ass) with out calling the cops. I think a few free tacos would have been eaiser then a power strugle that required the police. It sounds like the bad press the power triping mgr got was not worth it.

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DunkHawk
October 29, 2008 8:36 PM
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I got my three free tacos (I had my two kids in the car) at the drive-thru, no problems. I thought I might have to take the kids into the store, but they didn't really even question it. I'm not sure if the guy even looked in the car when I got to the window. Strangely, our local Taco Bell has the best customer service in town.

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HogwartsAlum
October 29, 2008 8:58 PM
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I would have gone if it was a free bean burrito. I hate their tacos. But the burritos rock.


Damn, now I want one.

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zigziggityzoo
October 29, 2008 10:07 PM
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ws thnkng th Cnsmrst wldn't gt n rtcl n bfr 11. L nd bhld, t 10:59, y snk n by. :-P

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VioletSparrows
October 29, 2008 11:30 PM
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this taco bell is a mile from my house! the internet gets smaller every day, or something.

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Thena
October 30, 2008 12:23 AM
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The Taco Bell I went to said that by 2:30, they'd already had multiple people come in and get a free taco, then get in the car and go through the drive-thru for a second free taco. The guy behind the counter said it was against the rules, but he didn't want to make any trouble and would give it to them anyway.

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DustoMan
October 30, 2008 2:08 PM
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Why not just tell them to come inside?

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shufflemoomin
October 30, 2008 3:35 PM
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Jesus, are people so pathetic now that they'll go to all this trouble for a free taco? How long have people queued for this? Get a job and you'd have made enough money during the queuing time to buy many tacos. Have some pride and dignity for God's sake...

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Grrrrrrr, now with two buns made of bacon.
October 31, 2008 3:35 AM
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OMG, tacogate!

Jeebus, people...if you want a free taco that badly, just go inside. It's ironic that people who are hellbent on getting a 79 cent taco for free don't mind wasting $1.50 in gas sitting in the drive-thru with their cars idling.

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