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I was reminded of this classic customer suckitude recently by my coworker when I mentioned this site - she said I should post this story, so here it goes.
I'm a key holder in our store (between a regular sales associate and a real assistant manager), so I'm the one next in the chain when there are customer problems, unfortunately.
This SC had the face (you all must know it) that said she'd be trouble. She comes up with these socks - the last pair left - and complains that she wants the socks, but that there's a smudge on them. I look at the socks, and there's this tiny, barely visible gray smudge that will probably wash out, but in the interests of customer service, I tell the woman I'll give her our senior citizens discount on the socks (10% - and she was obviously not a senior citizen) and tell my CW to ring up the socks at 10% off. The SC lifts up her nose, sighs, and says "fine."
Then SC brings up her whole purchase to the register later, and after my CW rings up the whole purchase, pulls out a ziploc bag full of coupons.
Now, our store has a crappy coupon policy - I am the first to admit it, and adamantly hate it myself. But being a lowly key holder, I have no say in the matter. The basic policy is NO COMBINING COUPONS/DISCOUNTS EVER! And sorry to shout, but the policy is angrily adamant to warrant the caps. Every one of the coupons people come to our store with has fine print on the back that we can point to, but that doesn't mean that people read them/don't get angry about it (and I usually don't blame them).
First off, though most of you probably know this, don't pull out coupons at the end of a transaction, ever. Show your cards at the beginning, so we can figure out the easiest way to use as many of them as possible and ring them up easily. But I digress.
We tell the woman we can't combine coupons. She's pissed. We point out the print on the backs of the coupons that says they can't be combined with other offers. She still wants to insist on using them all at once, after I offer to rering her purchase under different transactions. (At this point I take over for my CW, who goes to another register to ring, because it's Xmas shopping season and we're busy).
I repeat that I have no power to override company policy, and we'll just ring things up separately. At this point she's still pissed, but huffs out a "whatever" and throws her coupons onto the counter. And at this point, I hate her and want to get her purchase over with as soon as possible. (Christmas season makes me angry underneath my Thank-You-Come-Again smile).
And then the most ridiculous part of the whole exchange - I explain that I can't combine discounts, so I'm taking off the 10% coupon off of her slightly smudged socks, since she'll save much more money with one of her other coupons.
Apparently, this was the woman's last straw. She goes off about our store, its awful customer service (as angry as I was, I swear my CW and I were as polite and nice as possible), its misleading coupons, I'm a loyal customer who's never shopping here ever again, I should report you to the BBB.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but I really can't take the discount in addition to a coupon, or I am going to be written up for it."
"This is ridiculous! Those socks are damaged - there's no way I'm paying full price for damaged product!"
"...Well, this coupon will take 20% off of them..."
"Nevermind - put the socks back! I'm not paying that much for them!"
Later in the day, I take out a calculator and check my math on how much more she would have saved on the socks with that 10% - that extra 10% on one item that was the difference between her buying the socks and flipping out on me.
Eight cents. That's right - the lady flipped out on me and refused to buy her slightly smudged socks over 8 cents. Those 8 cents were the last straw.
My CW uses it as an example of how Christmas shopping stress turns people into monsters. If 8 cents is all it takes for you to flip your lid, though, I wonder if you need to get some priorities in order.
I'm a key holder in our store (between a regular sales associate and a real assistant manager), so I'm the one next in the chain when there are customer problems, unfortunately.
This SC had the face (you all must know it) that said she'd be trouble. She comes up with these socks - the last pair left - and complains that she wants the socks, but that there's a smudge on them. I look at the socks, and there's this tiny, barely visible gray smudge that will probably wash out, but in the interests of customer service, I tell the woman I'll give her our senior citizens discount on the socks (10% - and she was obviously not a senior citizen) and tell my CW to ring up the socks at 10% off. The SC lifts up her nose, sighs, and says "fine."
Then SC brings up her whole purchase to the register later, and after my CW rings up the whole purchase, pulls out a ziploc bag full of coupons.
Now, our store has a crappy coupon policy - I am the first to admit it, and adamantly hate it myself. But being a lowly key holder, I have no say in the matter. The basic policy is NO COMBINING COUPONS/DISCOUNTS EVER! And sorry to shout, but the policy is angrily adamant to warrant the caps. Every one of the coupons people come to our store with has fine print on the back that we can point to, but that doesn't mean that people read them/don't get angry about it (and I usually don't blame them).
First off, though most of you probably know this, don't pull out coupons at the end of a transaction, ever. Show your cards at the beginning, so we can figure out the easiest way to use as many of them as possible and ring them up easily. But I digress.
We tell the woman we can't combine coupons. She's pissed. We point out the print on the backs of the coupons that says they can't be combined with other offers. She still wants to insist on using them all at once, after I offer to rering her purchase under different transactions. (At this point I take over for my CW, who goes to another register to ring, because it's Xmas shopping season and we're busy).
I repeat that I have no power to override company policy, and we'll just ring things up separately. At this point she's still pissed, but huffs out a "whatever" and throws her coupons onto the counter. And at this point, I hate her and want to get her purchase over with as soon as possible. (Christmas season makes me angry underneath my Thank-You-Come-Again smile).
And then the most ridiculous part of the whole exchange - I explain that I can't combine discounts, so I'm taking off the 10% coupon off of her slightly smudged socks, since she'll save much more money with one of her other coupons.
Apparently, this was the woman's last straw. She goes off about our store, its awful customer service (as angry as I was, I swear my CW and I were as polite and nice as possible), its misleading coupons, I'm a loyal customer who's never shopping here ever again, I should report you to the BBB.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but I really can't take the discount in addition to a coupon, or I am going to be written up for it."
"This is ridiculous! Those socks are damaged - there's no way I'm paying full price for damaged product!"
"...Well, this coupon will take 20% off of them..."
"Nevermind - put the socks back! I'm not paying that much for them!"
Later in the day, I take out a calculator and check my math on how much more she would have saved on the socks with that 10% - that extra 10% on one item that was the difference between her buying the socks and flipping out on me.
Eight cents. That's right - the lady flipped out on me and refused to buy her slightly smudged socks over 8 cents. Those 8 cents were the last straw.
My CW uses it as an example of how Christmas shopping stress turns people into monsters. If 8 cents is all it takes for you to flip your lid, though, I wonder if you need to get some priorities in order.
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