Just a quick rant

[groceryslave]

Ok, so you go into a store and see something is on sale that states "BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE" This means you pay for one and get the 2nd free. Easy enough to understand right? Then WHY IN THE WORLD can people not understand that "BUY FOUR, GET ONE FREE" Does NOT mean you pay for 3 and get the fourth one free? You pay for 4 and get the 5th free. You wouldn't believe how many people I had to explain this to today. I tried just "pretending" not to notice if people only bought 4 cokes, but 9 out of 10 times they'd come back to me at the checkstand and tell me "YOU didn't give me one free!" Well donkey bum, I have a ton of customers in line right now due to school starting tomorrow, but since you are much too stupid to comprehend a simple math equation, let me just fix that for you, instead of you walking 4 steps to customer service for them to fix it. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!

[Crow The Robot]

Gah, i hate that, these people cannot grasp simple equations, and they act like you're the idiot. I had one chick give me a coupon that said "buy 2 get one free" , she only bought 2 of the named product. After the transaction is completed, and i hand her her change and the unused coupon, she sez "You charged me for two!", I point out that she neede to buy three items to get one free, pointing out the language on the coupon, this doesn't sit well w/her , so she demands to see my supervisor who told me the same thing. She goes aweay muttering.
Don't ya wish you could've said "Hey school's strting tomorrow, why dont you sign up? You need help with simple math."

[sarahj]

Hehe, all my customers know what "buy one get one free" means. Maybe because the only coupons I've taken are for Big Macs.

But there are a bunch of different discount cards out there, not quite sure who gets them (youth groups/sport teams, etc), but they have offers like "buy a value meal, get a free sundae or apple pie." And then list the store locations where they're valid. My customers can only read up to the free items - I get discount cards only valid at like 2 locations in another state! And then people argue that they should get it anyway!

[Mixed Bag]

I'm great with numbers but, if I can't imagine myself making that mistake, I can relate to it, or understand it, a lot better than most of the outrages that make this board. Better than Buy 2 Get 1 Free would be 3 For The Price of 2.

BTW, four times more than is NOT equal to four times as much as, it's 5x the original. More than may sound more impressive in ads but I wonder if the numbers are lowered to compensate as they should be?

[Becks]

My store avoids openly saying, "Buy One, Get One Free". What they have a tendency of doing is having something 2 for whatever the price of one is, and saying, "Half off!!!!!!"

I may not be describing it well, but it basically amounts to buying one at the regular price, and getting one free.

[WHShit]

This happens to me all the time. People see BOGOF and they think that it is 3for 2. Or, they see a Buy one Get one Half Price and get pissed off when they do not get one free.

Also, I thought that most people knew that, with BOGOF offers, you get the cheapest free. NOPE! I always have people coming up to me with 2 products, one costing $4 the other costing $12 and tell me that they want the £12 one free. They say it so matter-of-factly that they expect me to do it. When you tell them that the cheapest is free, most of the time, they will leave without buying. Stupid idiots!

[Mark Healey]

When people come in asking about selling their books to us they usually ask if we pay cash or only store credit. I tell them that it is their choice but credit is half-again the cash offer and they give me a startled look and say something like "Shouldn't credit be more?".

Now, as far as I know the phrase "half-again" is not a local or even U.S. only idiom. Why does it confuse people?

[Mark Healey]

Util recently we didn't have a regiser. To make things easier we price everything in increments of 50 cents. You just add up the pile in your head then whip out the caclulator to do the tax (I'm a pretty smart guy, but multiplying three places past the decimal is a bit much for me). People are amazed by this. They seem to think that I memorize all the prices and then add them. I just keep a running tally. Once I pick up a book I've forgotton the price of the one I just put down.

[karma_gypsy]

This happens to me all the time. People see BOGOF and they think that it is 3for 2. Or, they see a Buy one Get one Half Price and get pissed off when they do not get one free.

We have the 'Buy One, Get One Half Price' deal on video games, there's a sign near the games and I hear several people misread it 'Buy One, Get One Free' . . . speed readers maybe?

Also, I thought that most people knew that, with BOGOF offers, you get the cheapest free. NOPE! I always have people coming up to me with 2 products, one costing $4 the other costing $12 and tell me that they want the £12 one free. They say it so matter-of-factly that they expect me to do it. When you tell them that the cheapest is free, most of the time, they will leave without buying. Stupid idiots!

Same as above, surprisingly this hasn't happened yet. Of course, when I tell them the deal I usually finish up with 'of equal or lesser value.'

[Ree]

Well, call me crazy, but when we have a sale like that, and it's obvious the customer has only bought the required amount to merit the free one, but hasn't actually picked up the free one, that's when I save myself a whole lot of grief in the end and ask, "Are you buying these for the special? Would you like to get your free one?"

Then, I page the department and ask them to bring me one more of the sale item for my customer, and continue ringing in the sale. Usually, byt the time I'm done, the person from that department will have brought the item to my cash.

Problem solved.

No customer coming back in line whining for refunds, no hassles or complaints that they got ripped off, and I got a chance to explain how it all works so maybe they will remember next time.

[Broomjockey]

ask, "Are you buying these for the special? Would you like to get your free one?"

maybe they will remember next time.

I've had a couple cashiers do that for me on deals I didn't know existed, such as one time I bought 12 bagels, and she informed me that 2 more would actually make the bunch 2 dollars cheaper than it was right now. I thanked her, and ran my behind off to grab a couple more.

But methinks you are being just a wee bit optimistic with the whole remembering thing.

[Primer]

BTW, four times more than is NOT equal to four times as much as, it's 5x the original. More than may sound more impressive in ads but I wonder if the numbers are lowered to compensate as they should be?

I have a heck of a time trying to convince my students that the word "than" swaps the order of what's going on.
Three less than a number is NOT 3-x, it's x-3

To be more than or less than something, the something has to be there first!

OK...it's time to take my meds and mellow out...

[Bertonator]

Mathmatics is a lost art

When it comes to math today, if they don't keep a calcualtor on their person, it is as alien as the machine with screen, keyboard, and box with slide out cup holder. I think math is a lost art, even with the availabilty of fingers and toes.

[Ezrockspants]

The buy one get one free thing really irritates me...
Our ads say in huge letters 'Buy one for $X, get one free!' and then in tiny letters 'Equates to $Y each'. (Which I think sucks, it is quite misleading, but when don't you have to read the fine print?)
I don't know how the rest of guys put through that kind of transaction, but we still have to scan both products, meaning both show up on the receipt. People get quite mad when you scan both or they discover 2 items on their receipt, and even when you explain that they did, in fact, get both items for $X they don't believe you...

[air914]

I've had a couple cashiers do that for me on deals I didn't know existed, such as one time I bought 12 bagels, and she informed me that 2 more would actually make the bunch 2 dollars cheaper than it was right now. I thanked her, and ran my behind off to grab a couple more.

But methinks you are being just a wee bit optimistic with the whole remembering thing.

I love it when people do this! You feel like you're on the same level then - that the cashier is looking out for you or feels that you probably work for a living and aren't paid what you're worth too! People at Walgreens seem to do this for me a lot - b/c I never look at the ads - and I truly appreciate it. So for anyone that does this - THANK YOU!