I DEMAND a discount

[simplyanother]

Granted, I think it's dumb that we DON"T have a Military discount, but there ain't nothing I can do about it. Most I can do is round up on Prize Counter ticket amounts and give little buttons to birthday kids when they don't have a party.

We don't have a military discount either, and we get bitched at about it. I get that there is a huge military and former military population in the area, but it's not a local store, it's a nationwide thing. Complain to corporate, not the cashier. Meh, but they never hear that.

We rarely go to places like Chuck E. Cheeses, because I don't do chaos well. Last time we went was about a month ago, to celebrate a cousins birthday (but no real party)--the last time before that was like November 2007. I'm saying, it's rare. lol. Anyway...my 3.5 year old technically only had enough tickets for like 2 ltitle trinkets--with nearly enough for three. And he was having trouble picking between two little plastic things.

One was a spider and the other, I haven't a clue.... The girl behind the counter rounded up for him and he got to have that stupid plastic spider, too. It made his night. I thanked her and she was like "meh, all it was only about 3 points". But still. It was nice. I like nice people. Yes, I realize, not really relavant at all. Sorry.

or if they were willing to come in a deluxe candy store and demand use of my discount, I might sort of lean a little extra weight on the scale. ...If they want to bitch, then they shall have something to bitch about.

Heh, if only I could do that at work, it'd be awesome.

[I_Hate_SCs]

My personal "favorite" is when people ask for a discount because the packaging is damaged. 9 times out of 10 they'll simply settle for a different one, but the other 10% of the time, it's the last one in stock, or they *want* the "damaged" one because they think they can get it for less

...

First of all, it's the packaging. The whole point of packaging is to PROTECT the items contained within by sacrificing itself in the event of a mishap or rough handling. So when you see bowing, pushed-in corners, small tears and holes, slight crushing, etc, the product is FINE. Don't argue with me that it *might* be damaged.

I have to agree, I maybe seen an item broken from a damaged box about 3 times out of 500000000. What is unfortunate is that many SCs see the item's box as part of the 'item' they buy, even though the box is most likely thrown out the moment they open it. The only exception I could remotely understand that they'd want a perfect box is for collector's toys, but what you said still applies: get an undamaged package and accept it at full price! I would only give a 10% discount at my store if it was something big, like a noticeable scratch on a piece of furniture or a crack in a glass vase. It surprised me how many people still wanted some damaged items that were visually horrible looking, but not damaged enough to send back to the manufacturer for credit!

[Evil Queen]

Damn you and your memory Mike! That's no way to end a story!

[MadMike]

I had a customer come in for some carpet. There turned out to be a foot more left on the roll that he had asked for. I was about to cut the extra foot off, and he said, "I'll take that last foot too."

Fine with me. Saved me the trouble of cutting it. I rolled up, taped it, and put a label on it, and everything was cool. Or so I thought.

"Wait a minute, you charged me for that extra foot? I thought you'd just let me have it."

"I can't do that. Sorry."

"But what are you going to do with it? No one's going to buy a little piece like that!"

"I don't know, maybe someone would want it to line a shelf?"

"Can't you just let me have it?"

"That's not up to me. You'd have to talk to the manager about that."

I think I did end up involving the manager, and I'm pretty sure the manager didn't let him have it, because I seem to remember him coming up with the same "shelf" example I came up with. But I don't remember if the customer eventually gave in, or if I ended up having to unroll it and cut the remainder off.

[evileatinggrasshopper]

We can't give discounts at the convenience store I work at. There's not even an employee discount. However, for the regular customers that are nice we might toss a little extra meat on their subs or remake a fresh pot of their favorite coffee around the usual time they show up. Also, if a little kid is buying candy or a toy with pocket change and they're a bit short, I'll toss in the difference myself. You know, when the kid looks so pleased that they can buy something by themselves. It's cute

[Evil Queen]

I've decied that, at New Hotel, I hate giving discounts. If you're staying longer then a week, I'll gladly drop the rate from 130 to 110 a night, but if it's just for ONE NIGHT and it's the BEGINNING of my shift (either the 7am one or the 3pm one) then FORGET IT. I'll get more walk-ins for the higher rate then I would just for letting you stay for the unreachable $60 a night.

I CAN'T GO THAT LOW! I'M NOT A MANAGER.

This is a full service hotel, douche. You're gonna freaking pay for it.

[Snowbird]

Fifth, what you call damage in many cases is routine shop wear, caused by rubbing, reinforcing straps, pallet shrink-wrap, spider wraps, or is just dust or dirt. Get over it and stop whining.

I once had a lady bring up a picture frame with a single fingerprint on the glass, demanding a discount. I pulled out the bottle of Windex and swiped it off right in front of her. I thought she'd be happy, but I was wrong!

My favorite discount demanders were those making very large purchases who had neglected to get all of their discount card punched out beforehand but wanted the 25% off anyway. If they were nice and the purchase was large enough to warrant it, say over $200, and they only had one or two punches to go, I'd do it. More often than not though, they still had 9 out of 10 punches to get and got nasty when I told them I couldn't comply.

Then there was the King CS (he was unfortunately a regular) who decided that buying ten 10 cent items in one purchase qualified as ten punches and threw such a hissy fit in the middle of Black Friday-like mobs that the manager gave it to him because he was holding the lines up, but told him that wasn't happening again. He also told me later I should have made him go to the end of the line for each 10 cent item he bought (the lines went from the front to the back of the store and it wasn't a small store). He was a great manager.

[MsSasha]

Back when I worked at a store filled with an evil plush feline we'd CONSTANTLY get people in asking for products that were not on the shelves. If we didn't have it wrapped in plastic and never touched by human hands it was
"Can I get a discount since it was out?"

Why?! The majority of the time it was IN A BOX. Did the children germs penetrate the box and get onto your brand new kitty mug?!

Luckily though, it was a small store and I was almost always the only one there. I had a few times where 10-15 year old kids would come in, be sweet as pie, and have me check on a calculator to make sure they had enough money. Sometimes I would forget to ring up a piece of gum or give them the mall discount. So cute

[Android Kaeli]

The general rule at my store is that there is one discount coupon per customer per day, it says so right on the coupon itself. Now I generally stick by this policy even if a customer has a fit over it or has ten or more, sorry it's policy. If it's for your neighbor's cousin's sister's brother-in-law's dog and there's a line, the answer is still no -- have the neighbor's cousin's sister's brother-in-law's dog come in and buy the item themselves.

BUT! If the customer is nice and there is no one else around/in line, I'll do it once for them if they have only one extra coupon.

[rts]

But when someone wearing eight diamond rings and brand-new ugly shoes and wrapped in a fur coat or whatever else came in complaining about a bucket of chicken being $12, I almost always made a point to give them the smallest, crappiest pieces of chicken I could find, or if they were willing to come in a deluxe candy store and demand use of my discount, I might sort of lean a little extra weight on the scale. ...If they want to bitch, then they shall have something to bitch about.

Had one of these witches at another job I had at the tire center in the warehouse club. I told her there would be a wait to get her car in and she told me " I am a Smith (not her real last name) and Smith's never wait for anything!!!" I then told her, "Great!!! Today will be a first time learning experience for ya!"

She complained and pissed my manager off so bad with her condecending manner that he backed me up!

AHHH, the days when management was helpful....

[rts]

If you ask me for a discount, I say NO!

If you are respectful, kind and a good customer, I'll find a little extra for ya!

We have some coupons for 5 bucks off on an order of 20 dollars or more. I only give them to folks that are good customers, have been for a long time, and/or need a little help to keep something in the budget.

We get credit from the company for them, so it doesn't dig into our profit!

Most of our customers have been real good this year...it's our corporate people, District manager types and higher ups that are the ones that could use a baseball bat in the groin!!!!

[Dave1982]

My personal "favorite" is when people ask for a discount because the packaging is damaged. 9 times out of 10 they'll simply settle for a different one, but the other 10% of the time, it's the last one in stock, or they *want* the "damaged" one because they think they can get it for less.

Allow Professor Dave to explain a few things to all the would-be twats out there who think that damaged packaging automatically equates to damaged goods.

First of all, it's the packaging. The whole point of packaging is to PROTECT the items contained within by sacrificing itself in the event of a mishap or rough handling. So when you see bowing, pushed-in corners, small tears and holes, slight crushing, etc, the product is FINE. Don't argue with me that it *might* be damaged.

Second, if you genuinely believe that the item is damaged, you would not buy it. The very fact that you still want it tells me that you are a lying scumbag who is attempting to scam an unwarranted discount.

Third, we ONLY offer discounts on items that are ex-display models or have significant cosmetic (but not functional) blemishes (and then only when the item can't be sent back to the vendor for a FULL refund). And even then, we can ONLY give a 10% discount as a matter of policy. I will remind you that this is NOT an open-air bazaar and we can NOT haggle on the price of ANYTHING.

Fourth, if the packaging if so badly damaged that there exists a real possibility - or certainty - of damage, we wouldn't sell it. And we are pretty liberal about this.

Fifth, what you call damage in many cases is routine shop wear, caused by rubbing, reinforcing straps, pallet shrink-wrap, spider wraps, or is just dust or dirt. Get over it and stop whining.

Lastly, the ONLY times where we can offer a greater than 10% discount is for heavily shop-worn item (ie old, having been gathering dust since the Eisenhower Administration) that for whatever reason havent' sold and can't be sent back to the warehouse or vendor, and even then the discounts will be pre-arranged and constitute our final offer.

So the bottom line is take it or leave it. If you really want it, you can buy it at the marked price. If you're genuinely concerned about it, don't buy it.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Well, I demand a shrubbery!

Come on down here to my house and you can have all the shrubbery you want.

Maybe I should demand a discount too for no other reason than "just because."

Then again, maybe I shouldn't because I don't want to be laughed out of the store.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

And you just know some of the blame for this goes to those "consumer awareness" folks who blog and talk on TV about how you can haggle and ask for discounts in all sorts of places.

They've got a lot of people brainwashed to think only the stupid pay full price.

[crashhelmet]

We get people all the time asking for discounts. My Computer crashed. I want a discount. I couldn't get online at 3am because you were doing maintenance, I want the next three months free! I couldn't get my e-mail because I deleted the account in Outlook. GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!!!!

Read my sig

CH