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

[SquishyPimp]

Ah well I personally had no idea you could change the amount. Maybe my manager didn't either, but still it was only 21 cents. Even if I was screwing her out of money, what can I buy for 21 cents?

[Peppergirl]

Ah well I personally had no idea you could change the amount. Maybe my manager didn't either, but still it was only 21 cents. Even if I was screwing her out of money, what can I buy for 21 cents?

People like that would tempt me to take two dimes and a penny out of my wallet and hand it to her, just to shut her up and get her the hell out of my face.

In fact, I've done that in grocery lines on more than one occasion, when stuck behind someone who wanted to argue with the cashier over some miniscule amount of money like a dime or a quarter.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I had a girl throw a fit once because I forgot to change the tax on her return that she bought in New York. This was way back on the old system, too, so it took me several minutes to figure out how to fix it. Came out to about 54 cents. Luckily the current POS is easier in that regard.

The problem I had occasionally was when people would return stuff from another state and I didn't know what the tax rate was in that state. And, of course, neither did the customer.... So I'd have to get out the calculator and figure it out. I wished they would print the percentage on the receipt. It's rare that it happens but when it does it would come in so handy. Especially for areas where different cities have different taxes (not in NJ, thank dog, but still).

[Sonoma]

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.

I'm one of the Oregonians who understands that other states have a sales tax, and I don't mind paying it. Don't know about California, but I know Washington allows the tax to be waived if you show an Oregon drivers license. That is why I was willing to buy a previous truck in Washington. I don't mind filling out those tax exemption forms for a large purchase, but I once had a store make me fill it out for a 50-cent pack of crayons. I'd much rather just pay the tax for those incidental purchases. I figure I'm in their state, using the roads, emergency services are available to me, I shouldn't expect to get out of taxes.

[simplyanother]

Ah well I personally had no idea you could change the amount. Maybe my manager didn't either, but still it was only 21 cents. Even if I was screwing her out of money, what can I buy for 21 cents?

See, what you are really doing is...secretly screwing tons of customers out of 21 cents...and saving it all up.


Or something.

[myswtghst]

In fact, I've done that in grocery lines on more than one occasion, when stuck behind someone who wanted to argue with the cashier over some miniscule amount of money like a dime or a quarter.

I've done exactly the same, because it usually helps make them embarrassed that they're putting up such a fuss over something that the rest of us recognize as being so tiny.

Oh, and DaleDuke hit it right on the nose - I live in the burbs of Chicago, in Cook County, but near the border with Lake County, and the taxes, especially on things like cigs and gas, can differ immensely between the two counties.

[daleduke17]

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

Ugh. Kind of nice to be double taxed, isn't it? :-p

[queenbb]

i have had some one return something from another state once, i did the exchange i look at the difference in price and thing wtf why is this off, so i look at the receipt, and see its from a place that has less tax than we do (it was like 6.5% vs our 7.5% here in cali) so i try to rearrange the tax. no dice, i tried to enter the price manually no dice, i start to get frusterated and call the manager who says no problem and does the same exact things i did and i start laughing at him cause he (who was an egotistical jerk im glad hes not there any more) thought that i was being stupid and couldnt do the return cant get it done either.

i give up and call a manager from the main line store (since we are 2 different departments and have a totally different computer system) have the same issue. the poor customer who is actually being very understanding about this situation, is now getting upset cause none of us can seem to get this done right.

finnaly we just gave him a cust sat return, and had some crazy notation saying that it was a return from a differnt state and that the puter would not take the tax difference.

the customer says as he leaves, see if i ever buy anything from your store again, i reply well we usually have no problem returnign stuff, but since you came in from another state its just alittle different,

the return was for a car top carrier, it was only a week between the purcahse but you just know he used it to move here and then wanted to return it. yah so it was a "rental"

[digilight]

Don't know about California, but I know Washington allows the tax to be waived if you show an Oregon drivers license.

In California you would still have to pay the sales tax on the item. The only ways to get a sales tax exemption here are for Resell (Purchases made for resale) and you have to have a valid sellers permit and the store would have to make a copy to keep on file. Or a sales tax exemption for certain non profits, believe it or not but not all non profits even qualify for an exemption. They are very strict and if the person buying the goods does not have a resell permit or a tax emempt permit or is the federal govt then you have to charge them tax. Even local government like city and county are not exempt from tax (I know because I do printing and copying work for a local city govt and the local county and have to charge them). At least I don't have to charge tax on the jobs for the federal govt.

[allniter]

She was just wanting a fight. You shoulda booted her out of the store and when she called the cops explained how'd you'd offered her the money but when she got to be a bitch, you decided she was refusing the refund and her attitude meant she could be kicked out or given her money back, but not both.

[Becks]

Taxes are the same everywhere

She's oblivious, isn't she?

[PepperElf]

Different TOWNS around here have different tax rates

NY is like that too. growing up i figured it was 7% sales tax everywhere in NY but then I found out there were two halves, state and county....

NY state is actually i think 4 cents to a dollar, but county can vary...

[masterzora]

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.

That's actually more reasonable than it sounds (Oregonian speaking, if you can't tell). Most of the state of Washington will actually take off sales tax if you produce a valid Oregon ID since they lose a lot of business to Oregon. I actually once thought that California did the same thing and I only found out a couple of years ago that they don't. Granted, I was like 16 at the time and never tried to argue any points with anyone, but it makes sense.

[Sonoma]

Thanks digilight. I never knew about the Washington tax exemption for Oregon residents. Retailers in Washington often promote "No sales tax for Oregon residents", but since they're furniture stores, car dealers, etc., it comes across as a sales incenteive where they pay your tax to make the sale. I didn't realize it was for routine purchases until I bought a $20 figurine at a store by Chehalis. I didn't ask about the tax. They asked for my zip code, which obviously is in Oregon. She then gave me a form to fill out, asked for my driver's license, then took the tax off.

[Mango]

She didn't have an *unreasonable* request. [...] So depending on your POS system, you could/should change the tax rate.

I agree, the customer's request was not unreasonable, but how the customer handled the request was. Becoming hysterical, claiming the OP was trying to "screw her", insulting the OP's intelligence, and calling the OP names definitely qualifies as sucky. Especially over 21 cents.

Also, I know the POS system that I used to do tech support for had a notoriously convoluted and intricate procedure for changing tax rates...and even that required your sysadmin to have thought ahead and preprogrammed in the rate you want. But that's another story