Whole New Meaning for "Scam Artist"

[Dragon_Dreamer]

I was working the register a few days ago, when this guy came up with about 9 or 10 gift cards in his hands. They ranged in amount from $50-100, and were for normally pricey things, like the Marriot, and at least 3 for a spa. He came up to me, and smiled. What happened next still makes me twitch.

SC: Eediot. Or he thought I was one.
Me: Cute and sexy.
SM: Shift Manager.
AM: Assistant Manager.

SC: Hi, I'm an artist, and I was wondering if I could just have about 72 of these? I'm making a collage, and these don't have any value until you scan them, anyway.
Me: Err, sir, *we* still have to pay for those, I'm not sure I can let you do that.
SC: No one will know, and I really need these for my collage.
Me: Sir, I really can't do that.
SC: Get me your manager, then, I'm sure he'll let me have them. You just have no appreciation for the arts.

So I call for the manager, at which point, the shift manager shows up. He can't convince the guy that no, we really *can't* do that, so the Assistant Manager gets called.

The AM's argument is that it's the holidays, and we really do NEED all our gift cards for paying customers. Then he offered the guy any cards that we get that don't scan, and that we'll have to get rid of anyway.

The guy stormed out (sans cards) and I haven't seen him since. *rolls eyes*

[garth1]

SC: Eediot. Or he thought I was one.
Me: Cute and sexy.
SM: Shift Manager.
AM: Assistant Manager.

SC: Hi, I'm an artist, and I was wondering if I could just have about 72 of these? I'm making a collage, and these don't have any value until you scan them, anyway.
Me: Err, sir, *we* still have to pay for those, I'm not sure I can let you do that.

Something I don't understand here; Do you have to pay for the amount the card is valued,or the "cost" of the card?

[Amalthea]

Oh, yeah, cuz you KNOW that he was gonna take those somewhere else, try to use them for the face value, and throw a huge stink when they came up declined because there was nothing on them. "But my brother sent this to me. It's supposed to be for $100! What do you mean there's nothing on it? <insert huge, ugly rant that gets him escalated to the District Manager who caves in as usual due to spongelike lack of spine>"

[repsac]

the blank cards cost the store 5 dollars to begin with. I know that because I had to turn in a cashier (who got wrote up) for giving a customer a blank gift card.

[CrazedClerk]

All our cards are custom cards, there's no value written on the card, so if someone happened to get one, it would be largely useless.

[Giggle Goose]

Today this lady asked if she could have 2 gift cards just because her kids were with her and they though the cards "looked cool." She looked at me like I had three heads or something when I said she would have to put at least $5 on them. Yeah, we're "scrooges" when we just try to keep from getting written up for giving away stuff.

[Dragon_Dreamer]

Oh, yeah, cuz you KNOW that he was gonna take those somewhere else, try to use them for the face value, and throw a huge stink when they came up declined because there was nothing on them.

Exactly. This was confirmed in my mind when he stormed off, without accepting my manager's offer.

As for their value before scanning, I really don't know. I *do* know, however, that for every gift card given away free, that's $50-100 less my store makes in profit, leaving my manager less able to give us raises n stuff. And this guy wanted 72 of them!

[CanadaGirl]

You'd think if he was a good enough artist, he could recreate those cards himself for his "collage".

[Will-Mun]

SC: Get me your manager, then, I'm sure he'll let me have them. You just have no appreciation for the arts.

And YOU my good sir have no appreciation for the commercial trade market. Or the rules for that matter.

I don't understand why some customers don't understand the difference between the concepts of "can't" and "won't"

I remember Radio Shack, we had an employee bathroom, it was in the backroom, passed both the office and the stock room. We could not let customers use it. It was not allowed. There's theft risk involved, and even beyond that INSURANCE issues. If a customer was injured in the back room of the store? We would be held liable since there are no customer's allowed back there anyway. Following me?

And yet any time someone asked to use the bathroom, they put up a fuss wven when I mentioned there was a public bathroom at the McDonalds in the same shopping center. Like I'M being a dick for following policy, for following insurance rules.


Not that I won't let them back there (I would, I'm a nice guy.) I can't.


I remember people giving me BS about it being law for businesses to have a public bathroom in Jersey. Er... Noooo. Thats only businesses that actively sell FOOD.

[Becks]

I remember people giving me BS about it being law for businesses to have a public bathroom in Jersey. Er... Noooo. Thats only businesses that actively sell FOOD.

Is there some sort of connection there?

[greensinestro]

Oh, yeah, cuz you KNOW that he was gonna take those somewhere else, try to use them for the face value, and throw a huge stink when they came up declined because there was nothing on them. "But my brother sent this to me. It's supposed to be for $100! What do you mean there's nothing on it? <insert huge, ugly rant that gets him escalated to the District Manager who caves in as usual due to spongelike lack of spine>"

My point exactly. I may have asked him to bring in his collage, or the unfinished project so we could determine how many cards he really needed to do that. What did this guy do before the cards were invented? Remember when paper gift certficates existed? Did you go to store and ask for 72 of those for a paper collage, then instead of making his collage, write them for any amount he wished?

[Rapscallion]

You'd think if he was a good enough artist, he could recreate those cards himself for his "collage".

Pretty good point. Reminds me of when a friend and I used to play Magic before it became really popular. Some of the cards back then were fetching huge amounts of cash from collectors. My friend looked at a list of suggested values for cards and mused aloud as to why people didn't counterfet those instead of bank notes.

A bit later, we discovered that they were doing...

Rapscallion

[flybye023]

I've been reading these posts and I kind of get the impression people aren't getting the argument here. I don't think that the cards themselves have value before they're rung up (i.e. a $5 card is not worth $5 until the customer buys it) but the store itself still has to pay money for them. For example, we don't have a company that just gives us these blank cards. We usually have to pay, I think, around $50 for a box of 1000 or so.

So for a customer just to ask for a blank card "because they aren't worth anything" isn't exactly true. The store has paid money for them. It is an asset.

Sorry if I've misinterpreted the statments and this is redundant .

[AFpheonix]

Is there some sort of connection there?

I suppose if you sell something that goes in, you should provide a place for it to come out?


I thought most of the posts understood that the cards by themselves cost the store money to get in, and there were several that also pointed out the opportunity cost that would be lost if they were given away to some schlock instead of sold to someone for $5 or $50 or whatever.

[chainedbarista]

no, flybye; you are correct-the cards are empty, but they do cost the store, not a great deal, but they still figure into losses/gains.

we do have thefts of them from time to time, but it's not truly significant; someone wanting several of them would cause a problem, not only from an inventory standpoint, but from sales as well.

the 'artist's' argument was bogus; they do have value, just not a great deal, so a loss of one here and there isn't important, but to have someone ask for a large amount for no cost does have some impact, so he's just being stupid about it.

art or not, the answer 'no' is best, regardless of what he planned to use them for.