No Coupon For You!

There’s a franchise location of a very popular fast food restaurant in my hometown. I go to this restaurant a lot, and one day, there’s a coupon flyer in my to-go bag. The next time I go to the restaurant, I try to use one of the coupons from the flyer.

Cashier: “We can’t take your coupon. I’m sorry.”

Me: “Why not?”

Cashier: “This location isn’t accepting the flyers. If you look at the coupon, it says, ‘Valid at Participating Locations,’ and we’re not a participating location for that flyer.”

Me: “But I got the flyer here, at this location. Wouldn’t that make you a participating location?”

Cashier: “Um… well… it was the owner’s decision, so I don’t know.”

Me: “Is there a manager I can talk to?”

The cashier shouts for the manager, and he comes out from the kitchen.

Manager: “What’s going on up here?”

Me: “I got this flyer at this location, but your cashier is trying to say that you don’t accept the coupons here. I realize that the flyers are only valid at participating locations, but if you’re giving the flyers out, doesn’t that make you a participating location?”

Manager: “Our owner decided that we were losing too much money because everybody was getting discounts from the flyer, so he decided not to honor the flyer.”

I walked out of the restaurant without ordering and decided to call the restaurant’s corporate customer service line. Corporate was not happy hearing that this location was giving out a flyer only to turn around and not honor the coupons. When I went back to that location a few days later, they were accepting the coupons without any issues.