Unfiltered Story #211833

(Two customers come up to my till, with two shirts. They also hand me a receipt for one of the shirts, and explain that it’s the wrong size, and they’d like to exchange it for the other shirt – which is the exact same style, just in a different size. Seems easy enough, but when I process the return and scan the new shirt, the screen shows that they owe $10. I double check the labels on the two shirts, to make sure that they didn’t grab a different style by accident. Many of our items look very similar, so it could happen.)

Customer #1: *immediately sounding angry* “It should just be an even exchange*

Me: “Yes you’re absolutely right, it should be. So I’m trying to figure out why it’s saying that you owe money.”

(I then realize that we’ve had a few promotions going on recently, and the returned shirt may be showing a sale price.)

Me: “When did you buy this shirt?”

Customer #2: *sounding more calm than Customer #1, but still unhappy* “A few days ago.”

Customer #1: *talking over Customer #2* “It should say the date on the receipt!”

(I check the receipt and indeed, they did buy the first shirt during a “buy one get one half off” promotion.)

Me: “OK I see the problem. You bought the shirt during a buy-one-get-one promotion, and since you bought a second item the first time you came in, the shirt qualified for the sale price. However, since you’re only exchanging one item this time, the register is showing this new shirt as full price.”

(For the sake of brevity I’ve put this all as one paragraph, but they didn’t actually let me get that far. They continually interrupted me with increasingly loud declarations of “But it should just be an even exchange! We just want to do an even exchange!” As if I don’t understand that. Finally:)

Customer #2: *practically yelling at this point* “We just want an even exchange! Is there someone else who can help us?” *starts gesturing wildly at my manager, who is over at the other end of the registers*

Manager: *approaching my register* “What’s the problem?”

(I explain the situation, while the two customers continue to yell “We just want an even exchange!”)

Manager: *wordlessly does a price override then walks away*

(The customers then had me show them the tag on the shirt I was handing them, to make sure I gave them the correct one, before gathering their stuff and leaving. I immediately fled to the back until I could calm down enough to stop shaking. Ah, the joys of working with a customer set that is primarily rich and middle-aged….)