She put the container with the nachos into another cardboard container. They barely fit together. She punched the chips to get them to fit. Hmm, what's a few cracked chips when you can waste twice as much cardboard?

"One Diet Pepsi and one Sierra Mist," I continued.

"You want more?" she said angrily as she shuffled towards the refrigerator.

In my head, I thought, "Um, yes I want more, because I'm standing here with two children. They need to eat too." But aloud I just said, "Just the beer and we're done." (Splig had already told me he wanted pizza, which was available at the next kiosk.) I smiled at her. She seemed really annoyed.

"Beer?" She seemed surprised. "You want a large one or a small one?"

Well, I was originally going to go for small, but selected large since I had already been standing there longer than expected.

She disappeared for awhile. I thought she was getting me a beer, but she wasn't. She punched the beer into the cash register, though. "That'll be $35." Then as an afterthought, "I don't have beer cups." She left the "yet" unsaid, but I kind of wondered.

Thankfully, I saw someone bring over the beer cups as I handed over the credit card. But she made no move to actually get the beer.

Instead, she was staring at her register as though she was going to rip its heart out. "This ain't taking."

Oh, no. We had already been standing there for over 10 minutes and the line behind me was very long.

She swiped the card again and waited.

And waited.

And swiped.

And waited.

She left.

I turned behind me and tried to stay positive as I addressed the folks in line behind me. "This might take awhile," I explained as I advised them to find another line. Each time the lady disappeared, it took several minutes.

The crowd grumbled. One woman remarked, "By the time they fix this, I'm sure it won't be longer than that," pointing to another extremely long line.

"I know, I know, but this cashier is taking awhile." I responded.

Of course that is exactly when the cashier returned, and she may have overheard me. She still had exasperation in her face. She in front of me wanted to kill me, and those in back of me wanted to kill me.

"You have another card?"

Great, now people are going to think that my card was declined. But it was clear to me that the machine itself wasn't working.

I handed her another card as a fellow cashier came over to assist. He punched and swiped, swiped and punched. Then a third person did the same dance.

Finally, the supervisor came over and announced to the line that it was now cash-only. I could feel the daggers in back of me. I shuffled through my purse and came up with the $35. I'm glad I stopped at the ATM.

The register was still freaking out, thinking it had a credit card to process. I hope my card isn't charged multiple times on top of my cash payment.

I stood there. The supervisor just looked at me. The original cashier just looked at me. They thought they were done with me.

"Um, I still need my beer."

The cashier just stood there. She had plenty of beer cups at her station now.

The supervisor asked, "What type?"

"Red Hook."

The supervisor turned to the cashier, "This is the cup for the Red Hook," he told her, and shoved the other cups to the side.

Hmm, so there was no "large" or "small?" Yet I paid for a "large?"

He poured foam.

He tried again. And poured foam.

Foam.

Foam.

Foam.

He went to the next station: foam.

Another station: foam.

"Uh, we've got foam."

Yeah, you think?

The people in back of me were planning my death.

Thankfully, my kids were standing next to me, happy. Thank goodness I'd purchased them Dippin' Dots before going to the cheeseburger kiosk.

Finally, a proper pour. I could hear the people in back of me thinking, "All this for a beer?" And yet, I bet they order their own after their long wait.

But the register still hadn't cleared my transaction. "Uh, I need a receipt," I told the cashier, because I needed proof that I had paid $35 in cash in the event that the credit card went through.

She handed me a bizarre receipt that showed a credit card charge but with a blank credit card.

Oh well, better than nothing.

We went next door to the pizza kiosk where the beer was flowing quickly for those patrons and we received two slices of pepperoni pizza in less than 30 seconds.

Not surprisingly, by the time we got to our seats, half of my beer was already in my belly. As if on cue, a mom near me exclaimed, "Oh, they sell beer here? Goooooood!"

Goooooood, indeed!

--
Check out our impressions of the Disney on Ice: Mickey and Minnie's Magical Journey over on Spectrum of Reviews.