Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but that is the coupon for next week. Do you have the second half of this flyer, for this week’s coupon?”

Customer: *as loud as she can* “YOU NEED A F****** LAW DEGREE TO UNDERSTAND EXPIRATION DATES THESE DAYS!”

Me: “Beg your pardon? The date is written in the standard format, right here.” *points to dates on coupon*

Customer: “Like, you expect me to actually read the coupon?!”

(I work as a manager in a smaller store of a larger chain. We have a promotion running in a newspaper, which gives you a 10% discount on your whole purchase. I am working the register when a customer and her teenage son come to be checked out. As her purchases come a bit higher, I offer her the newspaper, so she can get her discount.)

Me: “…so, if you get the newspaper, you would get a discount.”

Customer: *not really listening to me* “What? No. I don’t want any newspaper. Stop pushing me to buy stuff.”

Customer’s Son: “Yeah, we got one at home.”

Me: “All right, then.”

(They pay and leave. About two hours later, when I’m working on my regular duties, I get paged by one of my coworkers that a customer has a complaint. Lo and behold, it’s the same person.)

Customer: “What? I wanted to speak to the manager!”

Me: “Yes, and that’s me. What can I do for you?”

Customer: “Well… I… You never told me that I could be saving money with this coupon!”

Me: “Actually, I did, very clearly. However, you were not listening to me. I offered, you said no, and that’s it. What else would you like me to do?”

Customer: “You should have been more clear! I want the amount I would save back!”

Me: “I’m not going to do that. Next time, you should listen to us when we offer you something. Have a great day!”

(If she would not have been rude in the first place, she would have ended up saving about 15€. If she would not have been rude the second time, I might have been more inclined to do a return for her.)

(Almost every Sunday a large family comes into the mall to eat lunch together in the food court. Five of these people frequent our restaurant. They spend a lot of money and are decently behaved, but they are always demanding, and the old man among them always likes to reach into our container of potato chips with his bare hands. We have developed methods to deal with them and keep them out of things they shouldn’t be touching for sanitary reasons, so luckily the family has become less of a dreaded Sunday chore. I’m working the cash register for this particular visit.)

Me: “Hello, I see you’re having the full salad with soup today? Anything to drink?”

Old Man’s Middle Aged Son: “No, thank you. Could you punch these coupons for me, though?” *he hands me three punch coupons, all of them with a varying number of punches, and rattles off what the rest of his family is having*

Me: “I can certainly punch these for you once the order is complete, but I’m not supposed to punch them until everything is paid for.”

Old Man’s Middle Aged Son: “What? You expect me to walk all the way to my table, and then all the way back up here to get my coupons back? That’s just stupid!”

(The coupon policy is in place mostly because sometimes people’s cards won’t go through after we punch the card, so then we have to give the punch card back to them with a free punch, basically. I know the old man, who usually pays, has never had such a problem or pays with cash. As the supervisor on duty I could probably make the exception, but the son is rude so I decide to be difficult.)

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but that’s just our policy.”

(The son continues to act like a spoiled child despite his age, when one of the women in the group, presumable his mother based on her age, speaks up.)

Mother: “What is he angry about?”

Me: “I can’t punch his coupons until the order is complete and paid, so he’s angry with me because he has to walk back and get his coupons.”

Mother: “Oh, for cripes sake! [Son], we can bring your d*** coupons back to the table!”

(The son walks away in a huff as the rest of his family completes their order with no problems. The old man approaches the cash register, and after I’ve repeated the order to him he hands me money.)

Old Man: “You all did a very good job. I’m sorry he behaved that way.”

Me: “That’s okay. I hope he has a better day.”

(The man ended up giving us a $10 tip, and the family, minus their rude son, still came back every Sunday)

(At my store, we’ve been giving out coupons for customers to come back between certain days to receive 20% off their purchase. It’s the day before the most recent coupon activates. I’m at the register.)

Me: “Hi, how are you? Did you find everything you were looking for?”

Customer: “I did! I was in here last week and got a coupon. I’d like to use it today.”

Me: “Sure, can I see it?” *she’s holding the recent bounce-back coupon that will activate the next day* “Oh, that’s the coupon that starts tomorrow, but that’s okay; let me check if your items are on sale anyway!”

Customer: “But I came in specially to use the coupon.”

Me: “I understand, and I’m really sorry”. *I scan her items, many of which are already on sale* “So, it looks like most of your purchase today wouldn’t fall under the coupon and you can keep it to use in the next couple weeks.”

Customer: “Maybe you could try to use the coupon.”

Me: “Sure, I’ll try.” *I ring it, but the register won’t accept it because it hasn’t been activated yet*

(At this point, there’s a fairly long line, so I call the only other employee on the floor over to help.)

Me: “My register can’t apply the coupon because it won’t be active until tomorrow. We can either go ahead with the purchase, or I can void it and hold the items for you until tomorrow, whichever you’d rather.”

Customer: “But I want my coupon! You just don’t want to give it to me, you fat, lazy brat!”

Me: “I…”

Coworker: *who is the manager on duty* “Ma’am, my associate has given you both the options available. She has also tried to ring your coupon which did not apply because our registers can’t accept it, not because she didn’t want to. I was going to have her honor it anyway, but since you decided to insult her instead, either purchase your items or let us hold them for you until tomorrow. You’re holding up the line.”

Customer: “Fine! Hold it for me until tomorrow, then!”

Me: “Sure, not a problem. Can I get a name to hold it under?”

(She gives me her name, then storms away.)

Coworker: “Happy Holidays!”

(At our store we ask everyone for their phone number so we can pull up their rewards club information when ringing them up. We are encouraged to get everyone’s number or sign new customers up. By being signed up, customers get access to extra coupons and free store credit for just shopping with us.)

Me: “Find everything okay today, miss?”

Customer: “Yes.”

Me: “All right, can I get your number for the rewards program?”

Customer: “No.”

Me: *checking to make sure she doesn’t already have one* “Are you sure? You get free money for having one, and it takes two seconds to sign you up.”

Customer: *annoyed* “No.”

(I just give up and go to ring her up.)

Me: “Your total is—”

Customer: “I have a coupon.”

(She hands me her phone, showing a coupon she could have only gotten by being a rewards member. Thanks for ruining my stats, lady.)