Ultimate Coupon Asshattery

[LillFilly]

Oh boy.

Friend went to *al *art to get a cake. Not only did the bakery manage to mess-up the spelling of 'Summer,' forcing him to wait until it was corrected, THIS happened at check-out.

You know how there's only 1 line to buy tobacco at? Well, he needed tobacco and thought it was no big deal that there was just 1-middle-aged woman at the register in front of him.

WRONG!

She was there with 4-BINDERS OF COUPONS, plus the flyers for every CVS, Walgreens, Price Rite, etc. in the area. Not only was she just at that moment matching her coupons to her purchases, but if she couldn't find the flyer ad to price match a product, she was also ON THE PHONE calling each store to find the best price. According to another employee, she had already been monopolizing that register for 1.5 hours. My friend asked for a manager and asked the manager if there was any way for him to check-out but still purchase tobacco. The Manager told him no, tobacco could only be purchased at that register. My friend checked-out without his tobacco, but point blank told that woman that it was rude of her to tie-up the only register capable of making tobacco sales and for not being prepared when she came to the register. The woman claimed that she was 'told' specifically to go to that register - while behind her the crazed-looking cashier was shaking her head 'No Way!' Friend ended-up making an extra stop for his tobacco fix.

This is something inexcusable that Management should not have let happen!

[ralerin]

One and a half HOURS?!? I would have been entertaining thoughts of beating the woman over the head with her coupon binders and then setting fire to them!

[Merriweather]

"Madam, by price matching you have managed to save an average of 8¢ per item, times the 40 items in your cart, which comes to a total savings of $3.20. You've been here an hour and a half, and we'll assume another half hour for finding your ads & binders at home and driving here and back. That's two hours, giving you $1.60 per hour for your time - not counting cost of gas, cost of newspapers or printing of online ads & coupons.
If you need money that badly, might I suggest you get a friggin' job?"

Geez. Ok, I admit to being a small follower of the coupon craze back a couple of decades when it was popular the last time around - and stores all over the place would have days when they would double or even triple a large (or even unlimited) amount of legitimately used coupons. I bought a paper once a week and clipped, I kept a little holder with labeled slots for categories (slightly larger, and fatter, than a checkbook). But when I checked out I had them all sorted either ready to give the cashier or to put with each item (cashiers & stores differed on how they preferred it). I didn't take up huge amounts of time from a cashier, nor from customers behind me, and only put minimal time into it myself (mostly clipping & sorting when I was watching TV).

People like her are the same ones who will drive an extra 10 miles to save 2¢ a gallon on their gas, or buy the bulk size to get something cheaper per ounce, when they'll end up tossing half of it out when it goes bad before they can use it.

[BrenDAnn]

I'd say someone has watched that extreme couponing show and is trying to get in on the act. The binders of coupons remind me of things I saw when I watched an episode. In my defense, I watched it out of sheer boredom, and I will never watch it again. Just saying, the woman seemed to be one of the extreme coupon types. So very, very wrong of her to tie up that register, or any register at all, let's be honest, for that long.

[Draco]

And it's times like these I'm glad my store doesn't price match.

[wagegoth]

The manager should have moved the psycho couponer to another register and helped her himself.


That show did get me interested in couponing, but it was the website of one of the couponers who appeared that has helped me work out the best ways to use them. That does not include a giant binder, tying up a register for hours, and price-matching at *al*art. I clip the coupons, go through the sales, and match up what I can to save as much as I can. I do have a small stash of personal items and food (about three shelves worth), and I make a lot fewer impulse purchases (which saves a lot). I've given coupons to people at work, and even handed out extras in stores. I am not a shelf clearer (unless there are only two items left).

[Kristev]

That's far beyond going too far, over the line, off the trolley, and extremely egregious!

[fireheart]

FOUR BINDERS?! Holy crap!

[GiggityGiggityGoo]

OCD?





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[mharbourgirl]

OCD?





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No. The kind of universe-revolves-around-me entitlement common to infants, and adults who never emotionally develop beyond toddlerhood. SHE wants to shave off the last penny, and SHE is the customer who entitled to take up as much of your time as she pleases because it's HER time, not yours. For a person like this, other people don't actually exist except for her convenience. It's called Narcissism.

[bainsidhe]

Yes the woman was sucky, but so was management. Your friend did the right thing complaining to management, but obviously that fell on deaf ears. Yes they could have suspended the transaction, but apparently that didn't occur to them.

I hope your friend emails a complaint to corporate. Maybe that manager felt helpless or just didn't care that the whole lane was blocked off, but corporate will pressure the store to make policy changes so that the cigarette line is used as an express lane.

I wonder, if the woman really was sent to that register, was it because a more experienced employee worked that lane? Not excusing what happened, I'm just pondering.

[PepperElf]

yes she should have moved off to another area to sort her coupons and do her calling

or... if it's so much cheaper elsewhere, then... go somewhere else

[smileyeagle1021]

or... if it's so much cheaper elsewhere, then... go somewhere else

That's one thing I've never understood about price matching. Maybe if it was just one item and you are buying at least 20 items I can understand wanting to price match rather than go somewhere else, but I've seen people with just one item in their cart ask for a price match... if it was cheaper somewhere else why didn't you just go there... I've even seen this happen when the cheaper store was across the street (though in that case it was one of those snobby, I may have to shop at WalMart but at least I'll never have to enter a K-Mart type people... which, hey, I'm glad for, less of a line for me when I go to K-Mart )

[ralerin]

(though in that case it was one of those snobby, I may have to shop at WalMart but at least I'll never have to enter a K-Mart type people... which, hey, I'm glad for, less of a line for me when I go to K-Mart )

Eh, call me crazy but I thought K-Mart was in a bit of a higher caliber than Walmart. At my local K-mart, I never find crap stolen and shoved everywhere, never find stuff out of place and the prices for some things are a but better than Wal-mart. But my local K-Mart floods once a year (built over a brook that has flooded every spring ever since the shopping complex and car dealership nearby opened, so MAJOR fail on their part), so maybe that's why I never find stuff stolen or out of place, they keep it pin-neat so they can identify will have to be replaced because of the floods.

[LadyAndreca]

The quality of Walmarts and K-marts varies wildly by region, and even store to store. My local Wal-mart used to be a depressing dump, but when they renovated it to add a grocery section the lighting and cleanliness improved hugely. Of the two local K-marts, one I only go to because it's close to work and that seems to be the only store that sells lightly salted pumpkin seeds (most places sell unsalted or salt-caked ones). It's crowded, it's filthy, and I don't like spending any more time in there than I need to. Most time I'll just do without the pumpkin seeds. The other one used to be neat but completely deserted. You'd expect tumbleweeds to meander through any minute. But after it was renovated, it too got cleaner and lighter, and business picked up.

I still prefer my local Target. I know where about 75% of what I need is immediately (I used to work there, though it too got a renovation recently), but it's clean and well lit. Except the fitting rooms. They never did staff softlines (basically the clothes department, in that store) adequately, so there's racks and racks of clothing that never seem to make it back to the sales floor.