The Salt-y SC, the ripoff attempt, SC needs a GPS, or a phone book....and more...

[wolfie]

The recent "scam" I've seen is the soda sold in packs of 18 or 30 cans. It's guaranteed that if the 12-pack is going for $3.98, the 18 pack is something like $7.50. People are so used to seeing the 24-packs, they grab the 18-packs thinking they're a good deal.

Another scam I've seen (usually gas stations and convenience stores) is an 8-pack of soda cans. It's in a cardboard carton, just like the 12-packs, so you can't see the cans - you have to read the fine print, or recognize that it's a shorter package than normal.

[Seshat]

Around here, the combos that provide cheaper prices are NOT clearly marked, and often not on the menu at all.

Therefore, yes, I WOULD be annoyed if you decided to 'tax' me for not knowing the magic meal deal.


Also, you can't tell just by looking whether someone is illiterate, illiterate in the language the menu is written in (but perhaps literate in five other languages), dyslexic, dyscalcic, has poor vision, or for some other equally valid, out of their control reason, cannot both read the menu and do the math. Is it fair to charge them extra?
Rhetorical question. I don't want the answer. It's for you (the original poster, others who are interested) to answer for yourselves.

[mjr]

#2 makes me feel very glad that I live in Australia, and work in a place with good security cameras. Basically, a customer (I honestly think she was honest here and thus not an SC) thought she had given me a $50 note instead of a $20 note, which obviously changed the amount of change to which she was entitled. My manager was able to look at security camera footage and see that it was clearly a $20 note she gave me. The customer was satisfied, we didn't have to count the register (which would have taken forever at that time, because our system only tracks the total amount, not the amount of each note and coin), and I got to keep my job.

Of course, this works in Australia because our notes are all different colours. Assuming the OP is from the USA, it wouldn't work over there, unless your cameras were really high-res.

The cameras we had in the store (4 of them) were black & white, and rather low-res. They were the ones that basically took the choppy video, I think. So there would have been no way (other than counting the register) to see how much money the lady actually gave us.

[Lace Neil Singer]

#6:

This one my wife and I go back and forth on.

I say that if you order the burger, fries, and drink that would normally come in a combo, but separately, you deserve to pay more. She says that it should be a courtesy that if the food is ordered that way (i.e. separately), that it should be rung up as a combo.

My argument is that most of the time, there's a picture of the combo itself. And it usually shows the sandwich, french fries, and a drink. And if you calculated the price, it would indeed be cheaper to buy the combo.

Ergo, if you order those three items separately, well, that's not really my problem is it? I can't help it if you can't figure out that the burger, fries, and drink you ordered are actually the combo #1!

So yes, I would occasionally ring them up that way. If they ordered items that normally cam in a combo, but separately, I would ring them up separately.

Is that mean?

I have a similar conundrum at work; we have a deal where you get a sandwich, regular bag of crisps and a drink (from a selection of stickered items) for £3. Sometimes people could get the deal if they bought a different sandwich, drink or crisp bag.

What I do, depends on the customer. If the customer is a nice person, then I tell them about the deal. If they're rude, ignore my greeting, glare at me, or otherwise act in an SC way, then I ring them up as they are without telling them. That way, nice people get rewarded and nasty people get shafted.

[wolfie]

For #1, was there a quarter in that shaker? Not that I'd know about such things.

Why would there be a quarter in a saltshaker (especially a pre-filled, non-refillable one)? If it's to keep the salt from coming out, there are cheaper ways to do it. One time, I was out with a group from work at "The improperly-tightened large ungulate". They had brown paper on all the tables (along with crayons for doodling). Can't recall who did it, but someone tore off a piece of the brown paper, unscrewed the top of a shaker, and screwed it back on over the paper "seal". Glass shaker, so you could see that there was plenty of salt, but nothing would come out.

[Kagato]

one problem I've noticed with the whole "4 x 6-packs being cheaper than 1 x 24-pack" thing lately is that some of the places here often have fine print saying "Maximum of 3 packages, otherwise full price", so if you are not paying attention at the cash register once the 4th one is cashed up it still ends up being more expensive than the single 24-pack.

(I've had to start paying close attention to per-can prices ever since they switched away from post-mix soft drinks at work in favor of cans, the boss likes it if I can let him know when a place has them on special)

[Kheldarson]

Around here, the combos that provide cheaper prices are NOT clearly marked, and often not on the menu at all.

Therefore, yes, I WOULD be annoyed if you decided to 'tax' me for not knowing the magic meal deal.


Also, you can't tell just by looking whether someone is illiterate, illiterate in the language the menu is written in (but perhaps literate in five other languages), dyslexic, dyscalcic, has poor vision, or for some other equally valid, out of their control reason, cannot both read the menu and do the math. Is it fair to charge them extra?
Rhetorical question. I don't want the answer. It's for you (the original poster, others who are interested) to answer for yourselves.

I think there you have to take into account the actual restaurant setting. Like, sure, I've been in places that don't have things marked well and the employee explains how to get what I'm ordering cheaper.

But if I'm at McDonald's which lists all of their major food items as combos first with a side note for buying it separate and don't order the combo, that's on me, you know?

And NotAlwaysRight has taught me that people are really stupid about ordering stuff the way they want...even if it's more expensive that way.

[Victory Sabre]

#6:

This one my wife and I go back and forth on.

I say that if you order the burger, fries, and drink that would normally come in a combo, but separately, you deserve to pay more. She says that it should be a courtesy that if the food is ordered that way (i.e. separately), that it should be rung up as a combo.

My argument is that most of the time, there's a picture of the combo itself. And it usually shows the sandwich, french fries, and a drink. And if you calculated the price, it would indeed be cheaper to buy the combo.

Ergo, if you order those three items separately, well, that's not really my problem is it? I can't help it if you can't figure out that the burger, fries, and drink you ordered are actually the combo #1!

So yes, I would occasionally ring them up that way. If they ordered items that normally cam in a combo, but separately, I would ring them up separately.

Is that mean?

In my book, no. I won't ring up a combo, unless the customer tells me they are ordering the combo. If they can't be bothered to look at the menu and see the combo is less than rung up separate then that's their problem.

[Pagan]

Lots of people don't do the math. A few examples:

- The "mini-cans" of soda are sold in 6-packs. Regular cans are sold in 12-packs. A pack of regular cans costs less than 2 packs of "mini-cans" (and when there's a really good sale, it can cost less than ONE pack). What this means is that, never mind the price per unit volume, the price PER CAN for the regular size is less. Why not buy the regular, drink what you want, and toss the rest?

You'd still be costing yourself money that way.

[suburbandecay]

Why would there be a quarter in a saltshaker (especially a pre-filled, non-refillable one)?

On the off chance this isn't a rhetorical question, you spin a nickel (or a quarter in this case) on the table. While it is spinning you slam the shaker down on the coin. Next person to pick up the shaker gets a mess and a coin.

[Solacelawlz]

haha evil ass stories haha as far as the combo thing, i had people ask for food like that but i would simply say "sir/mam that is actually a combo do you just want the combo it's cheaper?" i only had 1 person out of the thousands of people i served there over the years so no lmao i've learned that about this world... there's always one!!!

[wolfie]

The "mini-cans" of soda are sold in 6-packs. Regular cans are sold in 12-packs. A pack of regular cans costs less than 2 packs of "mini-cans" (and when there's a really good sale, it can cost less than ONE pack). What this means is that, never mind the price per unit volume, the price PER CAN for the regular size is less. Why not buy the regular, drink what you want, and toss the rest?

You'd still be costing yourself money that way.

How is that? If the mini-cans cost more PER CAN than the regular size, it's cheaper to get the regular size, drink a mini-can's worth out of it, and toss the rest, than it is to get a mini-can and drink the whole thing.

On the off chance this isn't a rhetorical question, you spin a nickel (or a quarter in this case) on the table. While it is spinning you slam the shaker down on the coin. Next person to pick up the shaker gets a mess and a coin.

First time I heard of that. No wonder I didn't recognize the reference to finding a quarter.

[mharbourgirl]

Heh, I obsessively examine the 'per-unit' price, a habit I learned from my mother. It generally saves me quite a bit of money on groceries and that's important to me. Just the other day my usual brand of TP was on sale. 3.98 for the 8-pack, 7.98 for the 12-pack. I now have 4 8-packs in my cupboard. I can math.

Which reminds me, TP is a good example of how the per-unit price can be deceiving. TP isn't exactly standardized, as we all know. 2-ply, 3-ply, different sized squares among brands, varying number of squares per roll (check it out, 200, 220, 270, 300, this changes the actual unit price considerably), thickness of layers, omg it's a pain. So you have to know the product as well as check the price carefully.

Grocery shopping is not for amateurs.

[b2addm]

What I do, depends on the customer. If the customer is a nice person, then I tell them about the deal. If they're rude, ignore my greeting, glare at me, or otherwise act in an SC way, then I ring them up as they are without telling them. That way, nice people get rewarded and nasty people get shafted.

I used to do this same thing when I worked in a restaurant. When they ordered in a way that would cost them more, I ALWAYS told the nice ones and gave them the better deal. The SC's, I remained silent and rang it up the (more expensive) way they ordered it. I called it the asshole tax.

[Jester]

Look around. There's signage EVERYWHERE that tells you!

As we all know, SCs don't read.

This one my wife and I go back and forth on.

I say that if you order the burger, fries, and drink that would normally come in a combo, but separately, you deserve to pay more. She says that it should be a courtesy that if the food is ordered that way (i.e. separately), that it should be rung up as a combo.

So yes, I would occasionally ring them up that way. If they ordered items that normally cam in a combo, but separately, I would ring them up separately.

Is that mean?

I have to side with your wife on this one. Allow me to explain.

I am a big proponent of good customer service. And part of good customer service is advising customers of such things, or just doing it for them. Do you have to do it? No. It's one of those "letter of the law" versus "spirit of the law" type things.

An example from my own work place is our happy hour food menu, on which we have several items that are severely discounted during happy hour (at the bar only, of course). An imaginary example would be the Jester Burger, which on the regular menu is $12, but on the happy hour menu is $5, for the exact same thing. If a customer at the bar orders a Jester Burger, I am going to automatically ring it in at the happy hour price, saving them money, whether or not they specified that they were ordering from the happy hour menu, and whether or not they even knew about the happy hour menu. I do this to be nice, yes, but also to avoid complaints. After all, it would be just my luck to ring it in at the normal price when they ordered from the regular menu, only to have them know about the happy hour menu and complain about the bill after the fact. Doesn't look very good for me in management's eyes, does it? Now, I won't do this automatically if there is a difference between the happy hour version and the regular menu version, say in size or quantity, as there is on some items. For these, I will ask them whether they want the regular version or the happy hour version, and explain the differences to them, thus allowing them to choose.

Do I have to do this? No. Do I think it is better customer service? Absolutely. And I pride myself on providing excellent customer service.

Let's forget the good customer service part about it for a moment and examine the rest of it. You say it's not your problem if someone can't read the sign or calculate the difference. You are correct. But many people are in a rush (especially in a fast food setting), or they could be tired, or could have just gotten off work, or might be distracted by their kids, or might have something else on their mind, or might just be lousy at math. But they know they want a Rhino burger, T-Rex fries, and a Brontosaurus coke, so they don't bother looking at the menu board, since they already had their mind made up.

Make sense?

Not mean IMO. When I had a franchise owner on my neck to make more $ I would charge separately unless customer threw a major tantrum.

Of course, if you have an asshole owner like Amethyst did, ignore everything I said above and do what the boss tells you to do, or else you are probably going to be looking for work. Your financial survival is more important than the pride of providing good customer service.

Why not buy the regular, drink what you want, and toss the rest?

Some people, myself included, really, really hate to waste food. The idea of buying more than I need to save a few pennies and then just pitch the excess is just wrong to me and the way I was raised.

- A few years back, one grocery chain had the large (28 ounce) tins of pasta sauce on sale. The regular price was a few cents more than that of the 14 ounce tins (same brand), and the sale price was less than that of the 14 ounce tins. People still bought the 14 ounce tins.

There are times when I would do this. If, for example, I am making a recipe that calls for a certain amount of something, I might buy the smaller version, even if cost proportionately more or even actually more (i.e., the small tin costs $3, the big one on special for $2.50), especially if the item is something I am unlikely to use again in another recipe or anytime soon. Sure, if it's something I am likely to use again, I might buy the bigger item and wrap and store the excess, but if not, why waste it?

People still buy the smaller sizes.

There is the matter of hating waste, as I mentioned above. There is also the human nature part of this, which makes a lot of people drink or eat the whole thing. Let's say, for example, that you only want a 12 ounce soda, but the 20 ounce soda is cheaper. You don't want 20 ounces (several valid reasons this may be so), so you buy the 12 ounce. Why not, you say, buy the larger cheaper one, and pitch the rest? Well, human nature is to finish the soda, and thus you have saved money but consumed more than you had intended to. With some people, this could be a matter of diet, health, and fitness, and knowing that they would drink the whole thing if they bought the larger size.

I wouldn't, either, so I filled the large cup only half-way, paid my $1 and went on my way.

This wouldn't work on prepackaged items, though, and on the fill-it-yourself items, not everyone is as smart as you. (I don't drink coffee and pretty much quit drinking soda, so I don't really buy anything of the fill-it-yourself variety in convenience stores anymore.)

I used to do this same thing when I worked in a restaurant. When they ordered in a way that would cost them more, I ALWAYS told the nice ones and gave them the better deal. The SC's, I remained silent and rang it up the (more expensive) way they ordered it. I called it the asshole tax.

In theory, I agree with this. In practical reality, the problem with it is that the assholes are more likely to complain and raise a big stink if they realize what is going on. Just some food for thought.