Retail Products Have To Be Purchased With Money Now

I used to work at a cosmetics counter in a major department store. This mall had several “customers” — I never saw any of them ever actually buy anything — that were notorious for coming in to ask for tons of samples and anything they could get for free. There were regulars that would hit all three department stores in the mall in a day. One woman would always ask for seven of everything for her seven granddaughters.

I had recently noticed that my bottle of alcohol — used for sanitizing products and cleaning — had gone missing from my counter. I found out a few months later where it had gone.

My coworker was trying to help one of the freebie-seekers, who just would not accept that my cosmetics line didn’t have anything free to give her that day unless she purchased something, as we were having a gift with purchase.

My coworker would not budge on the fact that the customer had to purchase two items in order to get the free stuff that was being displayed. The customer argued with her for several minutes, and, when my coworker wasn’t going to back down, looked around for anything she could have for free. About three months after the fact, I found out that my green plastic bottle of isopropyl alcohol had sprinted out the door with a disgruntled customer looking for free stuff.