Assume all you like mate! It's still no!

[Lulu]

This occured yesterday and I have to say, I was VERY sorely tempted to laugh in his face...how I resisted I'm not sure, must be some of that retail training wearing off eh

So, SC comes up to the counter and dumps three books onto it, two large hardbacks and a paperback. Coughs all self importantly to get my attention since I, a lowly serf, was dealing with another customer at the time. I turn, tell the SC I'll be with him in a second, finish dealing with the nice lady, all the while listening to him huff and sigh, then turn, greet him with a dazzling smile and ask how I can help.

SC : I ASSUME, if I brought these three books, you'd give me a discount. *steely look*

Me : *blinks* Prices are as marked sir. Sorry.

SC : So you're refusing to sell me these books then ?

Me : Um...no, I can certainly sell you those books sir, at the prices marked. You may have noticed that they are already substantially reduced from the rrp.

SC (getting huffy) : WELL! I don't think I want them at that price!

Me (resisting the urge to roll eyes) : Fair enough sir. *beaming smile JUST to wind him up*

SC (CLEARLY miffed he wasn't getting his way) : FINE. I'll take them then.

I ring them up for him, it comes to a grand total of £40 and some change. He sighs a lot and huffs, fumbles about in a wallet and throws a card at me. I pick it up, resisting the urge to snarl, and then I look at it.

It's a platinum Coutts card.

This guy has a PLATINUM COUTTS CARD and he's haggling over £40 ?! So I looked at the card, and then looked at him and raised a brow, and he actually had the grace to look away in embaressment. Left without another word. Why is it that the people who have the most money, will ALWAYS be the stingiest?!

Just in case Coutts isn't a known entity in the states, this should explain it all : COUTTS

[MadMike]

SC : I ASSUME, if I brought these three books, you'd give me a discount. *steely look*

And we all know what happens when you ASSUME, right?

[Fera Festiva]

What an arse. Why are so many rich people also cheap?

(Incidentally - you don't work at The Works, do you? Just because my boyfriend does and this sounds spookily like the kind of conversation he has at least ten times a day. )

[ArenaBoy]

And we all know what happens when you ASSUME, right?

I actually said that to a customer once, it was a busy night, guy complains about traffic and he says that he assumes he has the right to a quick out. Me, being in a bad mood and suffering a headache just snapped at him. I got flipped off because of it but it was worth saying it to him because he was such an asshat.

[Broomjockey]

The reason rich people remain rich, is because they are so cheap. If they paid the same prices as the rest of us, with their spending habits, they'd be flat ass broke inside a year.

The nice rich people however, know when a discount is acceptable to ask for, and all that other nice person stuff.

[Rapscallion]

Oh, this reminds me of many a chortle.

We sell at wholesale prices. It's not like so many wholesale outlets, which are a bit cheaper than retailers, but it's genuine wholesale. If we have a net profit of greater than one percent, we tend to think we're doing well.

We also have food groups. Officially, these are members of the public banding together to buy in wholesale amounts, but in practice it's usually single families buying wholefoods cheap. They're usually rich.

I was working in sales when I was but a callow trial member, green in my ignorance, when a food group customer asked me if she could get a discount on buying in bulk.

"But you're already buying in bulk," I protested.

"Ah, but I was several cases of this soya milk," she said.

"I'll have to speak to your account manager," I said.

I wandered over and was met by a chorus of "No sodding extra discounts for food groups."

"Hang on," the account manager for her region said. "Just how many is she thinking of buying?"

I went back to the phone and took it off hold. I asked. "Three cases?" I repeated, in case I hadn't heard it right.

She heard the laughter from the account managers.

"Don't you think three cases of soya milk is a lot?" she protested, somewhat offended.

"Um, we have a customer who will tale. half a pallet of soya milk every week," I told her.

She sounded somewhat deflated after that.

As a side note, we don't tend to discuss extra discounts until someone's regularly spending over a thousand pounds a week.

Rapscallion

[One-Fang]

What an arse. Why are so many rich people also cheap?

You don't get rich by giving it away.

A re-telling of my favourite rich-discount story. Mr Fang's boss is a bit, shall we say "tight". At a motel, he and a colleague bargained the owner down on the price of the units quite significantly. Then the owner walked them over to the unit - outside - where their BMWs were parked. He wasn't happy.