If Only Your Customers Were As Sweet As Candy

I am working at my local grocery store in a lower-income part of town. Our store is having a bit of a promotion; every time someone buys something, a $5-off coupon prints out with the receipt. It is one coupon per customer, per order, and they have to spend at least $5 before the coupon will even go through.

One day, this older gentleman walks up to the cash register with his little handful of items. It all rings up to about $4.35. He then hands me the $5-off coupon.

Me: “Oh, sorry, I can’t use that right now. You need to have at least $5 worth of stuff before that can go through. Is there anything else you want?”

Customer: “No, this is it. I don’t want anything else. Just use the coupon.”

Me: “I can’t use it until you reach $5. We sell bags for $0.11 if you want some of those?”

Customer: “No, I don’t want any bags! I just want what I have and for you to use the coupon!”

I know I could probably just charge him for the bags so the coupon will go through, but I hate charging people for things that they don’t end up taking with them — it slightly feels like stealing — so I decide to try some other things.

Me: “How about one of the candy bars? It’ll be enough to push you over $5.”

The man huffs, grabs the closest candy bar, and hands it to me. I scan the candy and coupon. He ends up being $0.23 over. The transaction proceeds as normal, minus the grumpy attitude of the dude. After receiving his change, he proceeds to chuck it into the back of the room.

Customer: “I don’t like chocolate bars!”

The guy ranted about it to himself for a minute before my supervisor came over to ask what was wrong. He told her that I wouldn’t use his coupon and that I forced him to buy candy and he doesn’t even like it. She then turned to me and told me that I should have just charged him for bags.