Liar gets gift card

[Rubystars]

I don't blame the manager for this, he wasn't any happier about it than I was. He just had to follow company policy. We were all very annoyed at this woman that came in this morning at the grocery store I work at.

First, the woman had a transaction where she got $80 cash back using her debit card. I counted the money out to her one bill at a time, 20, 40, 60, 80.

The woman left, and came back about 45 minutes later.

SC: "Hey, remember earlier when I was here and you said" *makes hand motions* "20,40,60,80?"

Me: "Yeah, I remember you from earlier."

SC: "Well, you only gave me 60."

Note that this is a completely illogical statement. If I had counted it out to her, one bill at a time, which she just said I did, and she just said I did up to 80, then it means I AT least gave her more than 60, because she showed me 60 of what I gave to her. Anyway....

So then I called my CSM so she could open the till, and she did.

Me: *counts the till to check if it's balanced* "R (CSM's name), if I give her 20, it'll be short, my till's balanced."

R: "Ok, let me count it."

Me: *helps customers on the adjacent register while R recounts the till.*

R: "It's balanced."

If the SC had been telling the truth, then the till would have been 20 over.

SC: *is standing there silent but looking a bit irritated through the whole counting process* "What are you going to do now?"

R: "I'll get N (the name of the salaried assistant manager)."

N: "The register was audited twice and it balanced, so I'm not going to be able to give you 20 in cash."

SC: "It wasn't audited twice when I was here!, I didn't get my money earlier! What are you trying to tell me, that I have to lose out on 20 dollars!?!?!?!"

N: "What we do in these situations is give a customer satisfaction gift card."

SC: "A gift certificate! A gift certificate! How am I supposed to deposit a gift certificate in my bank account?"

This is the second logically inconsistent statement she made, because when she got 80 cash back, it came out of her bank account. So why was she withdrawing it simply to put it back in anyway?

Me: *tells R* "I know I gave it to her, especially since the till's balanced."
R: "It's not your fault... you can go to your break."

So I went on my 15 minute break and when I came back she was gone. A little later on, N came up to me and I told him what she had said about me counting it back to her, and how it didn't make any sense for her to say that and then say I'd only given her 60. He said that she either dropped it out in the parking lot somewhere or was lying about it, but there was no way he could prove it 100% that she was lying, so he had to give her the gift card, and he was upset about it, but there was nothing we could have done.

At least they know it's not any of our faults though.

It just irritates me a bit that some idiot can come into a store, lie, and throw a fit, and get a gift card for it when people who work hard and are honest don't get anything.

[Drakstern]

Wow. That sounds like a complete reality disconnect.

She acknowledges getting 80 dollars... then claims she didn't. Then, when it's proven that your till is in fact correct and that you gave her the right amount of money... she still wants the money...

Just... yeah... wow...

[Amalthea]

He said that she either dropped it out in the parking lot somewhere or was lying about it, but there was no way he could prove it 100% that she was lying, so he had to give her the gift card, and he was upset about it, but there was nothing we could have done.

Wait...I don't understand how the fact that your register balanced isn't proof that you gave her the money. Unless they think you shorted her $20 and then gave somebody else an extra $20? That's bull...

[Rubystars]

N probably didn't want to let this woman cause any more trouble. N and R both knew I gave her the money, the balanced till was proof enough to them... but it wasn't something that N was willing to fight with her over because if she calls home office to complain, he would have had to explain why he didn't give her the gift card per company policy. He would have been the one to take the blame over it, and that's not fair to him.

N shouldn't have to get in trouble for trying to be 'fair'. It's really the corporate policy I have a problem with, because all this does is train SCs like that woman to come back for more later.

If she keeps pulling it though, he'll eventually have enough of a case history with her to be able to tell her firmly no without getting into trouble himself. I think it has to happen a couple of more times before he can though.

[chainedbarista]

i love policies that basically tie your hands, kicks you in the water, throws you a rock and expects you to swim.

let's reward every scammer, liar and anyone with enough brain cells to concoct some half assed scheme to get freebies with what they want.

how about rewarding them with what we 'want' for a change? *boot in the ass as they head out the door*

[Lehk]

this woman knew exactly what she was doing, it was a scam.

we always count tills and never give out money if the till was right

[powerboy]

At my job, I would love to actully have money in my til, instead of as right now, $4. Yup you read that right $4 in my register. Because of the owner coming in, and taking money out for hiw personal use. Then I gett in trouble, when the customer has to wait, while the other owner has to run and get change from another location just a couple of stores next door to us.

[friendofjimmyk]

Okay, I am baffled by this one. I too wonder why she is complaining about putting a gift card into her account that she just took the money out of. I don't know if I would've been able to stand there and not question that line of thinking.

[Crow The Robot]

I still... no.....I can't make any sense out of the SC's thinking. She said you have her eighty then denied it, she asks how she is supposed to deposit a giftcars when she took the money out of her account. Since your tills were balanced, she got the right amount of money back, what a b-tch. And of course corporate rewards this asshat with a free giftcard, which only encourages her antics damn.

[phillippbo]

And policies like this, my friends, are part of the reason that the SC problem is only getting worse. Not the whole reason, but certainly part of it.

What has always amazed me about corporatethink is that they will read some study somewhere that says in effect a no-hassle return policy (read: just give them what they demand, even if it's stupid or unreasonable) actually boosts sales. (I'm not making this up, but I can't find the study right now.) Therefore, in an effort to get a bonus/more use of the company jet/a house in Tahiti/kiss the boss's posterior, the suggestion is made to make a no-hassle return policy. Sales go up and everybody's happy. But, there are two crucial parts of the big picture they can't see: a lot (if not all or more than all) of the profit from the increased sales is walking away from the service desk in returns, and reinforcing the scamming behavior makes shrink go through the roof. That's okay, though, the problem with returns can be blamed on the associates not following policy, because the policy can't be flawed since the boss's bonus depends on it. And as we all know shrink is ALWAYS blamed on the associates.

Once, just once, I'd like to see a big retailer stand up to SC's. It is completely possible to do without being a jerk, and without accusing them of anything. I know this because I do it every day with people who claim they don't owe us the money we wrote off in their name, Social Security number, and address (it must have been identity theft!), there's no way little 16 year old Tommy ordered that dirty PPV, etc, etc. Besides, it infuriates me to no end that the $20.00 this company handed that SC will be recouped by charging me more for the products I buy. That is the epitome of unfair: stupid policy leads to easily-scammed situation, employee must cave to unreasonable customer demand while looking like a sap, corporate gets upset because profits are down, prices go up.

Once again, nice customers finish last and are forced to pay more so idiots like this can pay less.

Sorry for ranting, I just got off on a thing...

[trunks2k]

Wait...I don't understand how the fact that your register balanced isn't proof that you gave her the money. Unless they think you shorted her $20 and then gave somebody else an extra $20? That's bull...

I was accused of something like that before. Old lady claimed she gave me something like a 50, when she really gave me a 20. There was only one 50 in my drawer, and I had recieved that about two hours before hand. They counted out my drawer, and my drawer came up like 10 cents short (I'd dropped a dime behind the register). Lady claims that I must have given too much change to someone before and then purposefully shortchanged her to make up the difference. Oh yea, and also I apparently "take pleasure" in scamming old ladies.

[Strange Magic]

Waitasec...your telling me that your ASM would catch shit if he told corp the entire story ,including all the discrepencys AND the fact that all tils balanced?
i just vacted a storre manager position last week and I'm pretty sure that corp would have backed me 100% with that kind of evidence behind me...

[Jester]

I think the underlying accusation here from these people is that the cashier is pocketing the extra money.

She was owed $80, she got $60, the drawer balanced....well, that can't be HER fault. In other words, she is basically accusing the cashier of theft of that extra money when she says that the register being balanced is proof of nothing.

Something to consider.

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

"What are you going to do now?"

My favorite stupid SC question. The till is balanced that tells you that you are complete wrong Idiot customer. What are you going to do??? Nothing quit asking for free money. I had a guy do the same thing and the till was slightly balanced. Apparently I heard he got free merchandise at the end AAAAAARGH!!

[journochick]

In the convenience store I work at, people try tricks like this all the time.

Usually, after handing me a £10 note, they'll go, 'But I gave you a 20!'

Now I know for a FACT that they didn't give me 20. Because I check.

People usually try this when the store is busy, so that I'm likely to think I didn't realise they gave me a 20 in the rush, and will whip out a note and go, 'oops, sorry! Here you go.'

Wrong. I explain that the till will have to be counted and checked. Then they begin to get pissy, at which I bring out my manager, who then explains a second time. 'Till checking will take half an hour. Would you like to wait or come back?'

Funnily enough, nobody ever comes back.

Once, some woman came in and tried the 'I gave you 20' trick, and when I said she actually gave me a ten, she wouldn't believe me. She obviously thought I'd just give her another £10, but instead I got my manager, and the manager began counting it up in front of her.

Woman: 'Um, I've just got to pop to the rent office - would you mind if I came back? Won't be 5 minutes...'

Did she return? No.

I hate hate HATE people who do this.