You bought this in Chicago, take it back to Chicago...Duh? (Long I guess)

[SquishyPimp]

Hoookay

Sos I work in a craft store, where we're a bit...lenient on our return policy. And by lenient, I mean everyone and their freakin' mother can return everything they ever bought. It can get a bit ridiculous sometimes.
Anywhoose, it was a slow Tuesday night, around 7:30 and I'm near the front, organizing the ribbon since I'm main cashier that night. When this little gem of a woman walks up to the counter.

S-your Squishy^^
SC-yup
M-manager

Sc: Hi! I bought this at a different store, is it OK if I return it here?
S: Yes Ma'm as long as it's our product you can return it anywhere.
SC: OK good, 'cuz I bought this in Chicago (Note: I live and work in Missouri)

So i go about returning it, and everything is going peachy keen, until I call the manager up, and go to give her the cash back. Then all Hell breaks loose.

S: OK Ma'm $34.42 is what we owe you an-
SC: Did you say $34.42? (Increasingly hysterical-like)
S: Yes, is that a problem?
SC: Well, Look!! (Said while shoving the receipt in my face)
S: Ma'm I don't see what the problem is.
SC: The problem is that you're screwing me out of money! I returned everything I bought, and so I should get back the exact same amount!

Ok I thought, maybe I just typed in the wrong price for something, and didn't catch it. So I compare prices and see that what she paid (in Chicago!) was $34.63 that's a 21 cent difference!

S: OK Ma'm well I don't know what to tell you, I checked to make sure that everything was right and I-
SC: No! You didn't. This is stupid, you're stupid. I want to talk to your manager.
M: Is there a problem?
SC: Yes, this little twit (yes she actually called me that) is screwing me out of money. I want all of my money back.
M (while looking over the receipt): Ma'm, you bought this in Chicago correct? Taxes are different in each state. If you want the full price of what you paid, I suggest going back to Chicago.
SC: That's stupid, I know you're lying. Taxes are the same everywhere, you're just trying to screw me out of money! I want your full names, I'm going to report you to corporate.
M: OK Ma'm, you can do that, but you're still going to get this amount back, unless you want to return it in Chicago.
SC: Just give me your damn names and my money.
And Fin!

Moral: If you buy something in one state, return it in the same damn state!

[Nox]

SC: That's stupid, I know you're lying. Taxes are the same everywhere, you're just trying to screw me out of money!

I'm Australian and I know that different American states have different taxes. How could someone who lived there not know?

[Bagga]

A new career!

Buy loads of junk in Missouri,, ship it all to Chicago, and return it there! 21 cents profit on every 34 dollars, I could be on a winner here. Or maybe I need to go in the opposite direction, I dunno. I need a container ship full of craft goods, quick!

Let's see now. I want to return 217 cubic metres of balsa wood, 3 metric tonnes of glitter dust, 2,500 reams of origami paper....

[Knightmare]

She didn't have an *unreasonable* request. When I worked at RadioShack, we could change the tax rate in the computer. That way, when an SC was done with renting* a metal detector or a PA system for their church, they would get back exactly the amount they paid, regardless of what state they rented it from.

So depending on your POS system, you could/should change the tax rate. If you really wanted to. Call it a moron tax and be done with them.


*renting: Pretending to purchase an item, only to return it after the weekend, after the customer has used the product for the amount of time needed. Churches constantly "purchased" PA systems for a weekend. Pretty weird how they always had a problem with it on Monday. And metal detectors.... the most rented item in my RS store.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I'm Australian and I know that different American states have different taxes. How could someone who lived there not know?

Goodness, Nox, there are people here in Oregon who have a fit when they go to California and are charged tax there. But I'm from Oregon! We don't have sales tax! They actually expect to have it taken off.

[marasbaras]

I've seen Americans here in the Philippines (I'm a kano (short for Americano) myself) ... and it's so embarrassing. They yell about how it isn't that way at home.

Guess what you sniveling puketard ... YOU'RE NOT IN THE US ANYMORE. I told one man to quit yelling at the pharmacista (pronounced: far-ma-SEE-sta, I call them that because they're all nice girls ... in fact, well-trained, advanced-degreed with certificates hanging on the wall girls who work their seriously cute tails off to find the medicines you need). He looked at me with rage in his eyes and apparently didn't know what to say.

He was upset because they couldn't find his special medicine in the book and he didn't know the generic or chemical name for it. I mean, seriously d00d, if you're going to a foreign country and need special medicine (I know I do), get the generic details on it.

She thanked me and I went back to my place in line.

[daleduke17]

I'm Australian and I know that different American states have different taxes. How could someone who lived there not know?

It's not even different states. Different TOWNS around here have different tax rates. I lived within approximately the same distance of about five different cities and all five had different tax rates. The gas mileage didn't matter as all five cities were within about 25 miles of being the same distance (about one gallon of gas). When buying a big item, it mad sense. Spend an exta 1.50 on gas (hey, gas was cheaper then :-p ) to save 10-20 dollars in taxes when buying a computer or television when the stores in Lincoln or Decatur didn't have what we wanted.

For comparison (as of 2005):
Champaign - 7.75%
Decatur - 8.00%
Peoria - 8.00%
Springfield - 7.75%
Bloomington/Normal - 7.50%
Urbana - 7.50% (twin city to Champaign)
Lincoln - 6.75% (closest city to where I lived)
Chicago - 8.75%

The state charges a tax of 6.25%. That is factored into the above rates. Each city then raises the tax rate for whatever reasons (transit, police, etc). There used to be a lot more variation (except for Chicago) in tax rates. One suburb has a sales tax rate of 9.25% (Stone Park).

[Snowbird]

I lived just outside of Chicago in the suburbs, daleduke17 is right on the nose. I had countless people that would purchase something in our Wheaton store and return it to the Aurora store only to realize that, oops, tax is different and it helps to tell the clerks this before ripping them a new one(the manager was the only one that could change tax on the register).

Mr. S was my most notorious customer, the one both managers allowed me to walk off the sales floor when I saw him walk in because I finally refused to deal with him, and he was infamous for pulling the 'I bought it elsewhere but am going to return it here' routine.

He had bought six CD's at the Wheaton location, at $14.44, but our price (that was changed the day after he bought them) was $13.88. No biggie, right? He'd gotten the sixth CD free because he had collected vendor coupons, buy five get one free. He wanted not only the difference for the first five but also on the free one. No way, no how. He literally screamed in my face that I was robbing him about that, but when he realized I didn't give him his 20 something cent difference in tax, I swear the man nearly had an aneurysm and wanted me to share in the fun. Lots of lovely stories about that man.

[GolfCart34]

I remember getting into the sales tax argument when I worked in Maine. Now, just to give a bit of background, most of the customers at this particular store came from either Maine, New Hampshire, and/or Massachusetts. In Maine, everything has a 5% sales tax. In New Hampshire there is no sales tax. In Massachusetts, it depends on what you buy as to whether or not it's taxed (the way I remember the Mass taxes is this: if you need it, chances are it's not taxed. If it's not a necessity, then it probably is taxed). Well, most people from New Hampshire understood the whole 5% sales tax when they shopped in Maine, so they weren't the problem. I used to love getting the people who would insist that they were still in New Hampshire and demand the sales tax to be taken off of the price of the item in question. Uh, did you miss that huge blue sign that said WELCOME TO MAINE on your way up here? The only things that were not taxed for out of staters there were boats and kayaks. Those were tax exempt since most states charge a tax of their own if the purchaser officially registers their boat in their home state.

[simplyanother]

M (while looking over the receipt): Ma'm, you bought this in Chicago correct? Taxes are different in each state. If you want the full price of what you paid, I suggest going back to Chicago.
SC: That's stupid, I know you're lying. Taxes are the same everywhere, you're just trying to screw
[...]
Moral: If you buy something in one state, return it in the same damn state!

We've had assholes who purchased things in other states return to our store. There is a way to do it so that you can give them the same amount they originally paid, but hell if I know how to do it.

They never pull the "taxes are the same everywhere" thing. It's usually 'omg, how can you be so stupid not to know how to make it so it does the PA tax rate and not the VA tax rate? OMG you people are f'ing morons! OMG! OMG!"..etc.

The customers request wasn't unreasonable, it was the manner of the request that was unreasonable. WHY the hell do they always do that?


Gah. I do know that in the oh...TWO times it's happened that the person eventually did get the proper tax amount, but I don't know how it was done, but it was confusing.

[chops]

That reminds me of the time I got thrown for a loop in Virginia when I bought a newspaper for the first time. I'd never lived in a state that taxed newspapers until then. Whoops...

[DGoddessChardonnay]

That reminds me of the time I got thrown for a loop in Virginia when I bought a newspaper for the first time. I'd never lived in a state that taxed newspapers until then. Whoops...

It's the same down here in NC too. I think sales tax is slightly different depending on which county you're in.

Mine (Guilford) is 7.5%. Anything you buy through the checkout (including newspapers) is taxed.

You'd be surprised how many people nearly have a coronary because they have to pay sales tax on a newspaper.

[daleduke17]

The only things that were not taxed for out of staters there were boats and kayaks. Those were tax exempt since most states charge a tax of their own if the purchaser officially registers their boat in their home state.

Ugh. Use Taxes. One of the stupidest ideas I have ever heard of. Melissa and I got charged one of those by the city when we bought her car. Granted it was only something like thirty dollars, but still. I already bought the car and got taxed on it in a different county...I don't need taxed again.

[Peppergirl]

Man, I want to have a life where a loss of .21 cents is considered worthy of such high-drama and theatrics.

[protege]

Melissa and I got charged one of those by the city when we bought her car. Granted it was only something like thirty dollars, but still.

Be glad it was only $30. When I bought my car last year, I got nailed to the tune of nearly a grand. That's roughly a 15% tax rate