The Point Stealing Cashier

[rerant]

I wasn't exactly sure where to put this, but here goes.

Here in Canada we have a very large drug store chain: Shoppers Drug Mart. Like most any other large chain, Shoppers offers the option of an Optimum (points) card to their customers.
Since the points rack up pretty fast, and that's the only drug store I go to anyway since they have pretty much everything, I signed up for the Optimum card.
Ok, background done.

One day while at Shoppers I realised I'd left my new Optimum card at home. Since the cashier needs to scan the card after ringing though your items, I'd be receiving no points of my purchase today.
Fine by me.
So I go through cash, and the cashier asks if I have an Optimum card.
"Not today, no," I say.
"Alright," she replies.
Then I see something that didn't really click with my at first.
She scans an Opimum card.
Since I was new to this little system I thought that maybe they still has to scan something during that point in the transaction, so I said nothing.

Now, on your receipt it shows the number of points you've accumulated so far, and after leaving the store and checking my receipt I noticed that I apparently had upwards of 30,000 points. Now, for someone who had just received her card, 30,000 would have been impossible, even with all the crazy 2x bonus points/10x bonus points on certain items offers.

Then it clicked. The cashier had scanned her own, or someone else's, card!
Normally this wouldn't bother me, but something like that is just so dishonest.
The points are redeemable for money off purchases, or free purchases depending on how much you're spending.
By this cashier scanning her own or someone else's car, she's helping herself or someone else move closer towards money off their purchase, when they never legitimately earned the points by spending money in the first place.

I've never said anything to anyone at the store, but I wish I had asked for a manager and told them what their cashier had just done.
It may be a little sick, but I almost want to get checked out by that same cashier again, have her scan her own card, then ask for a manager, just to satisfy my need for justice.

Thankfully the other employees at my neighborhood Shoppers Drug Mart are honest and friendly, and not at all like the scamming cashier.

[Banrion]

You never know, sometimes there is a generic store card to be used in those situations, so that the customer still gets the discounts these cards usually afford.

[Rapscallion]

The local supermarket puts a barcode on its receipts so if you buy something without a card, you can take the receipt and your card to the service desk later for them adding on. It sounds like the cashier here was either getting your points for herself or for the company. May be worth having a word with the manager - if it was for herself, it's probably a serious breach.

Of course, it could be the manager's card...

Rapscallion

[draftermatt]

I think that's it more than anything. The local CVS keeps one at the register for everyone to use.

Plus, who cares? Seems a little trivial to complain about that. You got money off that you wouldn't have, and I've never seen those points add up to much of anything.

[Boozy]

There's absolutely no discount involved in the Optimum card - it's just points collection, so the cashier was not doing the OP any favours.

And Raps is right - I'm almost certain that Shoppers Drugmart lets you come back with your receipt and your card to add your points later if you didn't have your card at the time of the transaction.

The cashier was flat-out stealing, in my opinion.

[tollbaby]

There's no discount, but you can get a certain amount off your purchase once you reach a certain point level. So this cashier was probably redeeming her points for free merchandise at another store.

This is STRICTLY PROHIBITED by the Optimum points program, and grounds for termination at Shoppers Drug Mart. You should have told a manager, or if you see her doing it again, tell them!!!

[rerant]

I think that's it more than anything. The local CVS keeps one at the register for everyone to use.

Plus, who cares? Seems a little trivial to complain about that. You got money off that you wouldn't have, and I've never seen those points add up to much of anything.

All the cards are assigned numbers, much like a credit card. Since the numbers on the receipt didn't match those on my card, no points would be awarded to me, and instead they would have been applied to the account number on the receipt.

I should point out that in no way do I care about being awarded the points. I wouldn't be so trivial as to complain about 250 measly points. It was strictly the principle of the matter, and the fact that the cashier was being dishonest.

I should also mention that any other time I did not have my card on me, nothing was scanned in place of it, furthering my belief that the cashier was, as I mentioned, being entirely dishonest.

[rerant]

While I am in no way condoning theft...

Why would you care?

I would imagine it's against company policy for cashiers to redeem points for money off from future purchases, on initial purchases they didn't make.
Sure she could have been the desperate, single mother, but I hardly think that's a justifyable reason for such a thing.

Dishonesty is dishonesty, no matter how you slice it. Had she outright said something along the lines of, "Well if it's okay with you I'm just going to scan my own, " I would have been totally cool with that.
The way she went about it just seemed sneaky and unprofessional to me.

[kibbles]

I mean, do you have so little else to worry about in your life that some cashier scamming a few cents off some shampoo (money that the store would lose anyway if the OP had brought her own card) is really a big deal?

I mean, maybe she's a single mom, the store pays crap, and she uses that little bit of extra income to buy diapers for her baby. I'm sure being fired would REALLY help the situation.

Wow, that's a bit harsh IMO. The OP wasn't exactly slamming the cashier or over exaggerating, just asking everyone's opinions. Also, her being a single mom having to buy diapers etc etc is a pretty big assumption on your part isn't it? I personally do not know the ins and outs of the Optimum system but if the cashier is doing something that they shouldn't be doing, yes they should be reported.

If the cashier asked the OP would they mind, I'm sure the OP would have probably said no and to go ahead and put the points on their card (sorry to the OP if I'm over assuming )

kibbles

[rerant]

If the cashier asked the OP would they mind, I'm sure the OP would have probably said no and to go ahead and put the points on their card (sorry to the OP if I'm over assuming )

kibbles

Not over assuming at all. I would have surely agreed, had the cashier been forthright with her intentions.

[kibbles]

LOL! I think we posted our replies basically at the same time! But I am glad that I wasn't over assuming

[KuzcoLlama]

Let's all calm down before discussion gets out of hand. This is my lone gentle warning.

[Boozy]

I forgot to add this particular SC incident in my original response. I had forgotten my Airmiles card during a trip to another pharmacy here in Canada (they give Airmiles instead of Optimum points, but its the same sort of thing.)

I know for a fact that at this particular pharmacy, you can bring your receipt back in and get your points credited to your card at a later date. I've done this once before, because I had purchased a bunch of stuff that would have given a whole pile of bonus miles. But this particular time, I didn't care much, so I just waved the cashier off when she asked if I had a card. I had no intention of coming back to claim the one or two measly miles.

Then this woman in line behind me literally SHOVED her card at the cashier, practically elbowing me out of the way, and snapped "I'll take the miles!" I was taken aback and sort of shrugged and said, "Oookkkaayyy..."

But what the heck, lady? I would have given her the miles if she'd asked nicely. She didn't need to get all aggressive about it. I can't imagine what she would have done if I'd refused...

[rerant]

Wait, ok, everyone wants the OP to report the girl and potentially get her fired because stealing is wrong, but it's only wrong because she didn't ask the customer before she took the points?

Like I said before, it was the sneakyness and the dishonesty, not to mention the fact that it showed her to be quite unprofessional.

And I think you're being pretty presumptuous by saying I got upset, when in fact the situation was, above all else, irritating at best.
It's not as though I stormed back into the store, demanding to speak to a manager and raising hell, suggesting the cashier be stripped of her job.
In spite of the fact that I suggested I wish I had spoken to a manager, I didn't suggest it would have been to get the cashier fired. Moreso to let him/her know of the situation.
If it's something that is against company policy then it would have been no one's fault but the cashier's if she had been punished for it.
It's not up to me to decide who does and does not have to ahdere to the rules, but I certainly think that if someone is doing something they shouldn't be then a manager should be let in on it.
If the act could be considered okay by company policy, then I would have left at least knowing better, and with the knowledge that I hadn't been served by someone who was dishonest.

[rerant]

Do you really, really care what kind of person your CASHIER is?

When it comes to how I feel about my experience in a store, yes.
As a cashier myself (in spite of the fact that I loathe my job) I do my best to reflect professionalism on aspects that affect my place of work directly.