All this fuss over three cents!

[XCashier]

A lady and her teenage daughter came up to my register with separate purchases. The daughter had a gift card and wanted to use it. I rang up her purchase, ran the gift card. She ended up with three cents left on her gift card.

Then the mother started in. "Why can't you cash it out?! It's the law, I'm sure of it, you have to cash it out!" Well, maybe it is the law, I don't know, but I don't know how to, or even if we can cash out a gift card. I explain that, the harpy starts tearing into me again, the girl looks like she'd rather be anywhere but there.

I suggest that she apply the three cent gift card to her purchase and give the three cents to her daughter. You'd think I suggested that she cut off one of her own arms! She's screeching at me that it's "ridiculous, there's a law!" I tried to contact a manager to find out what to do, a coworker tries to talk me through it, but the customer is still yelling at me and I can't hear a word my coworker's saying.

Finally, the hag lets me ring her up and use the gift card towards her purchase. She says, "I don't mean to be nasty [me to myself: really? You're doing an awfully good job at it!] but it is the law and you should know how to do your job!"

This happened half an hour to the end of my shift. It took me the rest of the shift to calm down. Fortunately, the rest of the customers were much nicer. (Perhaps they saw her little tirade and figured I'd dealt with enough?) I spoke to the MOD, she said she didn't know about any such law or how to cash out a gift card either, but she'd look into it.

[MelindaJoy77]

Arrrrrrrgh the "I don't mean to be rude" comments seem to always come from the customers who are rude. I had one lady flip out on me because I had to give her a bunch of her change in dimes and nickels because I was still waiting for someone to bring me quarters. She made me cry (This was about a month into my job) People seem to flip out about the smallest things these days.

I don't know if it's the law that you have to cash out a gift card for a small amount. It's probably not. I'm pretty sure our store policy is that we don't cash out cards no matter what the amount but yeah...just apply the three cents to her own purchase and everyone SHOULD be happy....

[EricKei]

I'd say that this falls under the "I am a lawyer/cop/doctor/the owner/the owner's kid" syndrome -- in other words, she's full of shit.

If she expects you to take her word for that, she's welcome to provide a printed COPY of said law

edit: Melinda's post came in while I was typing -- Almost anyone who says "I don't mean to be rude" is actively preparing to be rude.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

edit: Melinda's post came in while I was typing -- Almost anyone who says "I don't mean to be rude" is actively preparing to be rude.

QFT

Just change "rude" to *insert whatever here* and you get the point.

[aurelemsrealm]

I doubt there is any such law. I'd be willing to bet it's a case of that's her problem.

[csquared]

In California, gift card with under $10.00 can be cashed out. AFAIK, California is the only state with a law to mandate cash out. I seem to recall the XCashier is NOT in California.

[Headset Hellion]

Don't most of those cards actually say that they have no cash value? I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that if someone gives me a $20 gift card to WalMart, I can't go to the customer service desk and exchange that for a $20 bill.

[Mr Hero]

Arrrrrrrgh the "I don't mean to be rude" comments seem to always come from the customers who are rude.

They're not trying to be rude, because they don't have to. It happens without effort with these people.

[ShinyGreenApple]

"- yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often," Dumbledore finished the sentence gravely. "Best to say nothing at all, my dear man."

It's along the same lines as "I'm not blaming you". When then why the hell are you taking out your frustration on me? I'm pretty sure most stores stopped cashing out the difference on gift cards because it serves zero profit to the store and is nothing more than a waste of time, with people treating it like the bank. It's part of the reason Voldemart got rid of a permanent layaway department.

[emax4]

If she kept claiming it was the law, I would have intentionally mislead her and said, "Call 911 and tell me what they say.." hoping that the cops fine her for making a non-emergency call on an emergency line, shutting her up.

[MoonCat]

For THREE CENTS? Oh, for..... If I had three cents left on a gift card, I'd kiss it goodbye and say "It was nice while it lasted," and toss it in the trash. I'm not rolling in money but c'mon...it's three pennies! She was a twit.

[Food Lady]

First, it is not the law. Second, it's 3 cents. Most of my customers don't care about the 3 cents. Some say to give it to the next person. Third, it's a *gift* card. You got it for free. Why do people always complain about free stuff?

[Gaki]

I once had a customer throw a royal bitchfit about how I gave her tens instead of twenties in change. She screamed that she was going to alert the media that she couldn't get twenties from us.

My response almost verbatim:

"You go for it, ma'am, most of the time they think it's a swell idea that we don't keep twenties and your letter will most certainly make sure we never get robbed. I hope they run that story in every state in America."

She still comes back in and she doesn't fuck with me when I give her tens.

[SteeleDragon78]

i found a list of giftcard laws by state. there seem to be a couple of locations with cash out provisions. but not knowing the OP location i cant say either way

[XCashier]

I would have cashed out the card if I had known how to. If the hag had shut up for a few minutes, I could've gotten the information I needed and given her those precious three pennies out of the till.

The fact that she chose to throw a tantrum that would've embarrassed Verruca Salt and kept harping on me for several minutes (that felt like days) and wouldn't give me a second to think straight is what got me. It was beyond unneccesary; it was infantile, stupid and humiliating. I truly pity the daughter, having to live with a screeching harpy for a mother, and hope she learns from the experience and becomes a better person than her mother.

I've printed off the relative information from that link Steele posted (thank you!) and will take it to the manager on my next shift, and we can figure out where to go from there if (when) there's a next time.