I'll take a number one, coffee medium/regular, french cruller and Boston cream...

Every New England-er has their "regular" order at Dunkin Donuts. They also have a back-up regular in case the regular doesn't work out for some reason. If you go to the same Dunks for a while, the person behind the counter even learns to recognize you and knows your order before you open your mouth to ask for it. It becomes pretty convenient. (I don't think this is possible at Stah-bucks. I found this one hilarious! And add it to the reasons to support this guy.)

For as long as I can remember, my regular has been #1. It's a coffee with 2 donuts. I used to get Hazelnut coffee back when they still brewed hazelnut flavored coffee beans. Now they use hazelnut flavored syrup which is not the same taste. The first tastes like Hazelnut coffee, the other tastes like coffee with Hazelnut syrup in it. Totally lame. So, now I simply order just a normal flavored coffee, medium/regular (which means with cream and sugar in New England but nowhere else), with my two favorite donuts- the Boston Creme and the French Cruller. Both are great donuts on their own (I actually think the French Cruller is my fav of the two) but for me, one is inadequate without the other. I am very particular about how I like my Boston Creme served to me. It's simple- place it in the bag carefully as to avoid the chocolate covering sticking to the inside of the bag and getting all over everything. (Ok, so they usually just throw it in the bag, but I fix it before any damage is done!) Eating the Boston Creme takes a bit of pre-planning too. The first bite should be over the hole where they put the creme filling in so the filling doesn't come squirting out said hole upon the first bite. That gets messy. The french cruller is simply a soft, flaky, sweet treat. And if you're lucky, you get it warm and it's a soft, flaky, warm, and gooey treat! Mmmmm...

There is a DD two blocks from my desk at work, and until recently I was going there daily for my #1. This particular DD is located inside an Exxon gas station on the corner of Park Drive and Boylston street in Boston. Many of you might recognize gas station as it uses it's land for a parking lot during Red Sox games. Things were going well until just before Halloween this year. I entered and asked for the usual.

"I'll take a number one, coffee medium/regular, with a Boston Creme and a French Cruller (pronounced cur'-ler)," I said.

"I'm sorry, we don't have French Crullers right now. We have replaced them with pumpkin donuts," replied Trevor from behind the counter. Poor Trevor. I really let him know how sad I was that of all the donuts they made chose replace my favorite. And I don't even like pumpkin flavored anything. This poor shmoe was just the messenger!

Fortunately for me, Trevor was a very customer service oriented kid and he spoke to his manager for me! Next time I was in there there was a small number of crullers specifically waiting for me! Woohoo!!! Unfortunately, I began to put on weight and had to cut down on my donut intake. I stopped going to DD's every morning. Instead, I began to walk up all of the stairs at work (44 flights a night) and only treat myself to DD on Fridays. I felt bad that Trevor had gotten me the crullers and then I stopped buying them all the time, but it was necessary to avoid gaining weight.

Well, this morning is Friday so I went down to DD's to get the regular. When I did, the kid (Isaiah) behind the counter told me the french crullers were considered "manager specials" and were not included in the #1 since they cost more. I looked at him, dumbfounded.

"No, their not," I replied.

"Yes, they are," he corrected me.

"Since when," I asked?

"They've always been. I didn't know it until recently when I got in trouble for selling them at the regular price."

"I think you need to re-check your facts," I insisted. "I've been ordering the same thing for over 20 years and the french cruller has never been anything other than a regular donut." I pointed at his co-worker, Zorah. "She sells them to me all the time! She knows!"

It was to no avail. I ended up getting a "Low fat" blueberry muffin instead. As it turns out, the muffin was far more fattening than my donut. 1 French Cruller has 150 calories. 1 "low fat" blueberry muffin has 400 calories, about 2.7 times the calories in the cruller. Aaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!
Someone at this DD has something against either me or the french cruller. I intend to do some serious investigating. Or do I?

This whole stupid situation has filled my night with a considerable amount of cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, I'm really upset by this little inconvenience. It's amazing how one little change in a 20 year old routine can mess with one's mind. On the other hand, I am very aware of how stupid my feelings are! This one little donut costs as much or more than millions of people in the world make in a day. It's shamful, really. I want to go in there and meet the manager and find out what this guy has against the cruller. He's probaby a communist! But I can't imagine how I could possible make a stink about something so dumb. I wonder what I'll do?

I'll keep you posted. I'm sure you'll be waiting with baited breath.