"I Promise, I Have the Tree at Home!"

[kerrisan]

For some COMPLETELY random reason, I was reminded of this short story a few minutes ago.

When I worked at Kroger way back when, we had a special during Christmastime - buy a real tree, get a stand free. I had this guy (whom I had never seen before ever) come up to my t

SC: Hi, I just bought a tree here not 30 minutes ago, but I forgot to get my free stand. *shows me stand* Can I just take this?

Me: *trying really hard not to show my face* Umm . . . certainly sir, as long as I can see a receipt for the tree.

SC: Oh, I already took everything home.

Me: Oh, dear . . . I'm sorry sir, I can't give that to you without proof of purchase for the tree (which I'm starting to wonder if you really purchased . . . who comes back without a receipt for something they don't even have with them?!).

SC: What?! I just told you; it's at home! I bought it not 30 minutes ago!

Me: I'm sorry, sir, maybe if you can find the person who actually rang you up for the tree they can do something about it. Without proof, I can't just give you a tree stand.

SC: *a bit more ranting and huffing . . . he finally leaves without his tree stand*

I dunno why I remembered this. He must have either been really naive or thought I was really stupid. Man, I wish you could just take people at their word . . .

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

We do the same kinds of BOGO sales with lots of different things.

For example, at Thanksgiving you get a free electric knife when you purchase a certain roaster oven. Or a free gift card if you buy a certain really expensive item.

One time we ran a special where you got a free controller with the purchase of a PS2, I believe it was. So a guy came in, grabbed one of the free controllers, and took it to the registers claiming he had already purchased the PS2 an hour ago or something, and "forgot" to pick up the controller.

Thing is, we had been sold out of the PS2 since the previous day.

Yeah, that attempt at a scam ended in fail.

[Dips]

We give people free updates for a year after purchase. This happens a lot.

"What do you mean you need my serial number? I lost it when I moved."

"I swear I bought it last August. What do you mean you can't find me in your database?"

"Maybe it's in my mother's name. No? What am I supposed to do?"

"You expect me to contact my dealer to get my serial number? That's unacceptable."

Whether they are scammers or not, I can't believe anyone would think that a company would just give out free stuff without some sort of verification.