Coupons: You're Doing It Wrong

[SecurityWench]

A woman was in the express line today and wanted to know a few things.

Thing #1: "Why can't I use these coupons for items I didn't buy?"

Thing #2: "The coupon says 'Buy Item A and get Item B for free!' I already bought Item A at a different store in your chain a week ago, here's the receipt. Can I have Item B for free?"

You can imagine how well this went. She took forever to let my manager explain to her that we couldn't do these things, let us know how 'rude and unhelpful' we were being while the ten people in line behind her glared a hole in her head.

Blah.

[hinakiba777]

I think the first verse of this song describes the other customer's in your line. :P

It's cathartic to listen to this song.

[jjc927]

I actually had a woman ask me once "well can't you just take them anyway?" after she had given me several coupons for items she either didn't have or didn't have enough of for the coupon.

[Kogarashi]

I had a woman once who was notorious for bringing in, like, fifty billion coupons with her, only about a third of which could actually be used on her transaction. She would get at least an entire cartful of food, if not more, and wait until everything was rung, bagged, and put back in her cart before hauling out the ziplock full of coupons and handing the entire stack to the cashier.

At that point came the tedious process of sifting through the stack and setting aside all the expired coupons, then explaining to her no less than three times why we couldn't take expired coupons, phrasing it as simply as we could because her English was sketchy at best (and this was a middle-of-nowhere farming community where everyone spoke and understood English fluently, so I'm not sure where she was from; she had a neat accent though). After finally convincing her that those coupons were no longer any good (and handing them back because she still wanted them for some reason), we had to void off the items they were for because she didn't want the products if she couldn't use the coupons on them. Go figure.

Then we began ringing up the remaining two-thirds of the stack of coupons. The registers there were set up so that if you didn't buy the item the coupon was for, the register would reject the coupon with an "Item not scanned" message. We then got to set those coupons aside (comprising half the remaining coupons) and sift through the bags to see if they were mis-rings for some reason. At that point, we again got to explain to the woman several times over that we couldn't take those coupons, this time either because the product was the wrong brand or the wrong size, or wasn't even purchased at all. For instance, she'd have a coupon for Colgate toothpaste, but bought Aquafresh. Or she had a coupon for a 6-pack of Coke and bought a 2-liter. Or even a coupon for a wheel of Brie cheese and bought a brick of cheddar. Once again, we had to void off everything she had been trying to use the coupons on, and give the coupons back.

Finally, the remaining coupons were scanned in, and she paid and went on her way while we got to call up a manager to take back all the unwanted product. ::sigh:: I always dreaded seeing her in my line.

[Kristev]

I'm sorry for you.

[MoonCat]

Kogaroshi, I suspect your customer couldn't read English very well, if at all.

"Why can't I use these coupons for items I didn't buy?"

This one makes my brain hurt. How can she not understand such a simple concept???