Buy 1, Get 1*

[simplyanother]

You know, I don't ever recall having a sale item at Glitter Hell be Buy 1, Get 1 before. The sign says:

Buy 1, Get 1*
50% off
*blah blah equal or lesser value.

My co-worker who helped set the ad was convinced they'd be confused over the 50%, and think that the items were ...50% off.

Oh no. They're not even looking at the 50%, somehow in their brain, it's turned into FREE. That's been fun explaining.

Gah. I think they're just sitting up there at corporate, inventing new ways to mess with us and confuse our customers.

We have a bunch of coupons in this weeks paper, the traditional 40% off on item. A 30% additional off of frames. Apparently a Martha coupon, 60% off of custom framing...and this... 10% off of random Christmas crap--that doesn't actually seem to apply to much of anything.

And there is a LOT of fine print, and while we're mostly clear on what it covers, it's still confusing. AND serves to piss off the customers.

THE number of people I've had who've jumped down MY throat because it didn't come off of EVERYTHING Christmas related makes ME want to call corporate. And It's only Tuesday (so I haven't even gone in yet).

On Sunday or so I had a woman through my line with her adult daughter who gave me the song and dance about the coupons not coming to their house (because they live in BFE and had to drive forEVER to get here and stuff) and blah blah blah. They kept explaining it to me, and I kept telling them, I'm sorry, I don't have extras. Then there was an issue with an item, and the customer wanted it discounted, so I had a manager over with me...(who didn't discount the item, actually found one that wasn't damaged. heh)..and they kept explaining it to her. Because, you know that 10% sure would have helped a lot.

Except, it wouldn't have. Because I think they had one item that was covered under the thing, and it was like a buck. But they sure kept explaining.

I know they just KNEW that the MOD would say "just give them the discount". heh, nope.

THEN it turns out that the daughter was apparently a former Glitter Hell employee. Not at my store. But it certainly made me want to help her even less, because she should know better.

You know what? I had access to coupons...granted they were garbage...but I could get them out and give them to people who were...yanno, not ASSHOLES.

[MrsEclipse]

Oh no. They're not even looking at the 50%, somehow in their brain, it's turned into FREE. That's been fun explaining.

Maybe they saw the sign twice, or two signs near each other. You know, because 50%+50% means 100% off! Yay for SC logic! Boo everyone else!

Glad they ain't gettin' away with it. Nothing burns my bacon like that.

[Anakah]

There's only been ONE time I've ever seen buy one get one free. It was like five years ago when I worked for Mikasa. And my other favorite was at JC Penny's they had a buy one get one for a penny.

But yes, there is always fine print and they should know better but once they see the buy ONE part its like all reason flies out the window. I'd be too embarassed that I read the sign wrong to make an issue out of it.

[FantasyFlyte]

Ugh, I work at the same chain, and that sale's been giving so many problems. I had a lady who could not understand that the Christmas lights were ringing up 25% off each because it adds up to the same when you buy two. She thought that they were supposed to be 50% off each and was asking me why they weren't ringing up like I said they would. And this was after she made me open and check every box she was getting. And that 10% is so vague, nearly every customer was giving me crap about why did it work on this and not that. >_<

[Jester]

This sounds like the people we get occasionally at The Bar. We have a coupon out and about that offers a free coozie with the coupon if you buy a burger (or other sandwich) and a beer.

Oh, the variations I have heard on this, and yet they all sound something like this: "You know that coupon for the free coozie? Well, we have it back at our hotel room, and we got the burger and the beer....can we still get the coozie without the coupon?"

Short answer: "No."

Long answer: "Ummm....nnoooooooo."

Nothing burns my bacon like that.

Except maybe a really hot skillet?

[XCashier]

A few weeks back, we were having a "Buy one yard, get one yard free" sale on fleece. So if you wanted two yards, you paid for one and got the other free, if you wanted ten, you paid for five and got the other five free, and so on (full yards only, you couldn't buy 1½ and get 1½ free. That's the company's rule, not mine.)

One customer just couldn't wrap her head around it. (The actual exchange went on way longer than this, she kept coming up with more formulas that didn't follow the sale and was getting more and more confused.)

HER: I need four yards, so if I buy three, I get one free?

ME: No ma'am, it's buy one, get one free. So you'd buy two and get the other two free.

HER: So, if I buy four yards, I get one free?

ME : No ma'am, if you want four yards, you pay for two and get two free.

HER: I don't understand.

ME (holding up four fingers) : You want four yards, correct?

HER: Yes.

ME: If you pay for these two yards (pulls two fingers aside), you get these two (wiggles remaining two fingers) for free.

HER: OH! Okay!

She got her four yards and was happy, and my manager complimented me on how I handled her so patiently.

[jjllbb]

haha! Sometimes I have so much fun doing finger puppets or drawing impromptu maps on spare receipt paper.

[Mikkel]

I treasure the time I actually used apples. Our sales-tax in Denmark is 25%(!) and as a tourist you could get a refund from the shop if you send papers to show that what you bought had gone out of EU.
A guy had bought a bicycle and had gotten his refund. A year later he was in Denmark again and came complaining that we had only refunded 20%.
We had a bowl of apples on the desk and I demonstrated "We have 4 apples, then we add 25%, that's 1 apple, then we have 5. Then we want to refund the tax-apple. 1 apple from 5 is 20 %. Here you are, one apple." and I handed him the apple.
He was not convinced but he left the shop, without the apple.

[AriRashkae]

haha! Sometimes I have so much fun doing finger puppets or drawing impromptu maps on spare receipt paper.

Puppets make everything better.

[Digitalpotato]

Sometimes it's not the customers' fault that they didn't read the receipt, since they're often printed like


BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!!!!!!!
With the purchase of another item of equal or lesser value, and this.

[MageAkyla]

You know, I don't ever recall having a sale item at Glitter Hell be Buy 1, Get 1 before. The sign says:

My co-worker who helped set the ad was convinced they'd be confused over the 50%, and think that the items were ...50% off.

I set that sale and the moment i saw the way those signs were printed, I cringed. Since it's on the holiday cardstock i actually had to squint to make out the Buy 1, Get 1. I'm seriously amazed your customers actually read that part.

For the BF sale I had the Store Manager remake those signs in much larger print. Apparently it worked (or we just have smarter customers although I'm not holding my breath on that on) because I didn't hear about any complaints from the cashiers.

[Sedorna]

Often at my store there'll be sales or coupons stating Buy 2, Get 1 Free. Guess what? That's right, invariably somebody'll come up with only two items and except to get one free. But if it's Buy 1, Get 1 Free they don't come up with one item and expect to get that free. So why can't they understand that they have to actually pay for 2 items to get another one free?

[Biggfredd]

There's only been ONE time I've ever seen buy one get one free. It was like five years ago when I worked for Mikasa. And my other favorite was at JC Penny's they had a buy one get one for a penny.

But yes, there is always fine print and they should know better but once they see the buy ONE part its like all reason flies out the window. I'd be too embarassed that I read the sign wrong to make an issue out of it.

KB Toys used to do a lot of BOGO50, usually at the same time other items were 50% off. White price tags meant one thing, orange meant the other. On top of that, corporate sent a bunch of the wrong colored tags.

So I take a pair of $15 items, expecting to get them for $22.50. They don't ring up at a discount, and the cashier didn't have a clue, so the stupidvisor gets called over. S "understands" the problem, overrides the register, rings up the first at half off, and the second one free.

I told them just a minute and cleaned off the shelf. It's not my job to teach your management how to do third grade math, especially since past attempts have resulted in arguments!

All in all a great deal, but not as great as when the idiots at Media Play used the same price for the barcode of packs of collector cards and the barcode for boxes of them.

People were taking boxes of cards to the checkout, expecting to pay $70-115, only to be told they owed $3 and change. At this point, they'd go back and grab all they could carry. This apparently went on for weeks.