I was technically in the wrong, but the customer overruled me.

[Eddyisme]

This is sort of a suck on my part, but the customer I encountered was a jerk in his own right.

BG: It started out any other day, I'm checking people out, cleaning, working shelves etc. etc. 6PM rolls around and unlike other days, my coworker leaves at 6pm, (she got in at 9am so justifiable). I'm by myself for 4 hours, not too bad right? At about 9pm my supervisor comes over and asks if I can stay a little later to straighten up, (she was coming to help me later but turned out they were behind on their zoning as well). I say sure no problem, I had very few hours and was nowhere near my limit. So it is around 11:30 at night, I have three shopping carts jammed full of cardboard and returns are just constant, when it finally all arrived I began zoning and filling my shelves (we had tons of Christmas items out from other sections piled into mine.) End BG.

So I'm in the middle of this zone and I'm a little tired but I keep going anyway, I notice we have an end-cap with a price of like 98 cents on the sign, the product was on all the shelves but only in the middle, customers grabbed the side boxes.

So I'm thinking, "I'll stock the shelves with all these various items (at different prices) and just take down the big sign and make it up like a clearance section. (Bad idea on my part, I now know.) So while I'm stocking the shelf (and did NOT remove the 98 cent sign) a customer is standing nearby, as soon as the put the last item up he strolls over and calls to me, "Hey you," I turn around and he points at the sign with a shit eating grin on his face "See that sign?"
Me: "....? Yes?"
Him: "It says 98 cents right?"
Me realize what he's doing, what I have done. Oh shit, "Uh...yes?"
Him: reaches over to the shelf and grabs a 30-40 dollar item (that will ring up 50% off)
"I want this for 98 cents then."

I tried to reason with the guy by saying "I haven't changed the sign yet, I'm the only one here, supposed to be gone at 10" etc. etc. (gestured at carts surround my area that I was working on.
Him: "Doesn't matter, that's false advertising. Get me a manager, I want them to know it'll be 98 cents"
So I call a manager, he comes over and I apologize for my mistake.
He is filled in and the guy says "This item will be 98 cents right?"
Manger looks at item (knows the cost) and says "We can't sell it to you for that"
He gets his back up "Ah, but that is false advertising!"
He looks at him, "no, it's not" He turns his attention to me "Eddy, is this returns?"
I confirm and point to the other carts, (I was told to literally skip my zone and focus on putting up returns earlier)
He looks at the guy, "Oh, then these are just returns then well let’s get them down and put them into the right spot okay?"

We pull the items as the guy stands there muttering to himself, all I heard him say was "Well, fine then" he put the item up and walked away.

I thought I was in serious trouble, but the manager laughed when I asked about getting lectured. He said "That was just a learning experience, the guy tried to get something for nothing. Don’t worry about, but don't do it again it can cause problems."

Supposedly, he was watching me stock it and noticed I didn't take the sign down.

Almost an hour later, as I'm checking out for the night at the registers, a fellow cashier asked me if I knew anything about this guy, she said he came up to the line and when she asked him how he was he told her "Oh, that bitch (manger name) didn't follow company policy blah blah...." and so on.

I felt bad about it since I was the one who caused it but the guy had no sympathy, totally ignored me when I tried to explain, and then insulted my manager (behind his back). All for a stupid decoration that was "popular" around town.


What a night.

[CyberLurch]

Of course, the ONE F***ING TIME a customer will read a sign.

Don't feel bad about it. Your manager shut him down, and you learned to remove the sign first. All's well that ends well. The sucktomer will go on to give someone else grief about something, I'm sure. They never learn.

[An Haddock]

The customer is an opportunistic creep. Reminiscent of a sexual predator. Watching, waiting for someone to make an honest mistake so they can leap into action.

And if your manager had let him get away with it (big props to the manager for having a spine) I'm sure the customer would be bragging to his friends about how he screwed "the man" and won some sort of major victory against a store.

[eltf177]

And if your manager had let him get away with it (big props to the manager for having a spine) I'm sure the customer would be bragging to his friends about how he screwed "the man" and won some sort of major victory against a store.

Not to mention he will try it again and again...

[An Haddock]

Should have just pointed at the sign:

"This sign?"
"Yeah!"

*takes sign down, rips it in half*

"Hey, look - no more sign. Guess you're paying full price."




Probably the same kind of person who walks around grocery stores looking for wet spots to slip in.

[bainsidhe]

Ugh, I think most of us in retail have had this particular jerk. Not the one who honestly believed the product was on sale, but who was deliberately trying to take advantage. Not to mention, holiday clearance seems to bring on the SCs in droves. For example:

SC: This should be ringing 50% off, the sign said 50% off.
Me: It is ringing 50% off.
SC: No no no, it should only be $2.50 because it's 50% off the marked price.
Me: No sir, it's 50% off the list price. See? The original price was $10 and it already has a sticker showing the new price at 50% off.
SC: Noooooo, it's 50% off the marked price. So if you guys marked it down already, then I get another 50% off.
Me:

[notalwaysright]

Me: No sir, it's 50% off the list price. See? The original price was $10 and it already has a sticker showing the new price at 50% off.
SC: Noooooo, it's 50% off the marked price. So if you guys marked it down already, then I get another 50% off.
Me:

A long time ago (in a galaxy...) when I started at the fabric store, we'd hand write remnant slips. It would say something like "original price" and under that it said "you pay" which was the half-off price. People kept insisting that we take half off the already half off price. Now it just shows the original price. Of course, even though it says in several places that it will be half off, people still come up all confused "so, this is what I will pay?" NO.

I was trying to remember I think it was a cold open on Malcolm in the Middle, where Greg is marking up a row of products, and a little old lady is RUNNING to the other side to grab a box before he marks it up. Also, people need to stop saying false advertising when they don't know what it means.

[CyberLurch]

To be fair, a lot of stores use a tactic to trick customers. I saw it today at Kroger, in fact. Nice big display in the middle of the aisle with a big sign on top proclaiming 10/$10, with no indication whatsoever what it was that actually WAS 10 for $10. It took me a moment, but I came to realize it was ONLY the boxes of plastic utensils at the top of the display. The pickles and other miscellany around the base of the display were marked (with sparse and much smaller signage) at a significantly higher (and presumably normal) price. Clever bastards, they almost got me. They also had their clearance Christmas items on tables in another aisle proclaiming some big percentage off, but no indication what the original price was.

[Sparklyturtle]

I was in my local Fred Meyers and I noticed a sign for toilet paper that was under the wrong product. The sign was for a 4-roll pack and the price was $1.35, and the product was a 12-pack. I at least read the sign, and then flagged down the front end supervisor and told her about it. She got a horrified look on her face and ran to the aisle where the toilet paper was.

[EricKei]

I did actually do well on such a Kroger display when it WAS totally honest -- They had these imported Italian pastas and sauces (et al) for exorbitant prices that didn't sell too well (five bucks for marinara? No shit it didn't sell!)...Soooo, after a month or two, they put them all on a display for 75% off. I picked up something like ten pounds of pasta for 75 cents a pack, and a bunch of these huge jars of marinara for a buck fifty each. I'm still going through those now, three months later ^_^

[Lovecats]

Ugh, I think most of us in retail have had this particular jerk. Not the one who honestly believed the product was on sale, but who was deliberately trying to take advantage. Not to mention, holiday clearance seems to bring on the SCs in droves. For example:

I still remember a man checking out at my register with his wife and daughter and arguing that the sign said another % taken off at the register. His wife and daughter looked at him and said that no it was already marked down for clearance. Now there was a major dept store (here in the South) that will have on their clearance signs that there was another % taken off at the register on top of the already marked down price. Long story short he was overruled by his family. It was beautiful to watch.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Ugh, I think most of us in retail have had this particular jerk. Not the one who honestly believed the product was on sale, but who was deliberately trying to take advantage. Not to mention, holiday clearance seems to bring on the SCs in droves. For example:

Or how they don't understand that 10% off of 50% off DOES NOT EQUAL 60% OFF.

Got that all the time at Gamestore becuase of our store loyalty card that gives 10% off on certain items, usually stackable with whatever other offers we're running.

[Eddyisme]

I walked through the store today and saw the guy in line at a register, our eyes met for a split second.

Oh, he wouldn't let me near the sign. He said he was staying there "guarding" it until the manager arrives in case I tried to say otherwise.

A long time ago (in a galaxy...) when I started at the fabric store, we'd hand write remnant slips. It would say something like "original price" and under that it said "you pay" which was the half-off price. People kept insisting that we take half off the already half off price. Now it just shows the original price. Of course, even though it says in several places that it will be half off, people still come up all confused "so, this is what I will pay?" NO.

I was trying to remember I think it was a cold open on Malcolm in the Middle, where Greg is marking up a row of products, and a little old lady is RUNNING to the other side to grab a box before he marks it up. Also, people need to stop saying false advertising when they don't know what it means.

I agree. A guy came in today just shopping, but he told me that one of our sister stores didn't like him.....wha? So the guy tells me he noticed ammo for lets say $60.00 *Stocked* in an area on the shelf for a price of $25.00.

When the manager came by he said, "Yes, I see the problem here. Give it to him for $25.00"
The guy claimed the employee said "Oh that's just in the wrong place" but it was supposedly fully stocked with the wrong ammo.
If we stock it and fill a shelf, can the customer still win? Or was this manager trying to keep the customer happy?

The guy said it was a good thing he did too, because he would have called corporate or someone on the phone if he was denied.

Of course, the ONE F***ING TIME a customer will read a sign.

Don't feel bad about it. Your manager shut him down, and you learned to remove the sign first. All's well that ends well. The sucktomer will go on to give someone else grief about something, I'm sure. They never learn.

I'm still relatively new and it shook me up a little. There are a lot of customers in the sea, most I've encountered are really supportive and nice. (Congratulating me for graduating and such...) But thar be sharks out in the water as well!

Don't even get me started on 75% off! lol.

I was in my local Fred Meyers and I noticed a sign for toilet paper that was under the wrong product. The sign was for a 4-roll pack and the price was $1.35, and the product was a 12-pack. I at least read the sign, and then flagged down the front end supervisor and told her about it. She got a horrified look on her face and ran to the aisle where the toilet paper was.

Some people will just grab and get the wrong price but are okay with the difference, some people will actually stop and look at the labels, others will search for the item in the wrong place and then demand that price.

*Lady wanting 6.98 40lb bag of soil , -> "I want it for $3.00!!"
*Guy looks at me and says "Isn't that false advertising?" Because the wind blew a number card off the sign in front of the item.

(sigh)

[brucetiki]

During the recent sales, my partner found this top with a markdown price of $5. Thinking this is too good to be true, I thought, 'If it's really $5 awesome, if not, I'm not overly in love with the top so will let it go.' Get to the register, and sure enough, it wasn't $5 (someone's swapped the label), I said that's all good I won't buy it, and had a laugh with the cashier about how much I was saving anyway with everything else I was buying.

The OP probably wouldn't started a riot if in the same situation.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Probably the same kind of person who walks around grocery stores looking for wet spots to slip in.

Someone tried that in the petrol station. He came up to my till and started ranting about how there was a wet patch on the floor (weather for that day was torrential rain and high winds, meaning that every time the door opened, a load of water was blasted in) and no signs. I calmly pointed out to him every single one of the six signs we had out. He blustered a bit but left deflated. Probably upset that he couldn't claim negligence or anything cuz of all the signs we had out. XD In any case, there was no avoiding the wet patches appearing cuz of the weather and sadly, we weren't allowed to lock the door.