(I work at a makeup store that sells rather expensive products on one side of the store that we call “Prestige.” On the other side, we sell what we call “mass,” which are cheaper, more widely available products. We offer coupons that are usually only good for our mass section, but for a small amount of time we have a coupon that is available to use on the Prestige cosmetics. When these coupons come out, we usually have a rush of people that get excited to use them since they are rare. Note: We currently have a coupon out for our Prestige products. This coupon can only be used one time and it is clearly stated across the bottom of the paper.)

Customer #1: “I would like to do two separate transactions. I’d like to use the money I have saved up on my rewards card for one, and then use my coupon for the other.”

(I happily do this for her, even though two separate transactions takes longer and holds the line up even more. After I use her coupon on her first purchase, I move on to ringing up the second.)

Me: “Your total for this purchase, after your rewards points, is [total].”

Customer #1: “Is that with the coupon?”

Me: “I used the coupon on the first set of items like you asked, ma’am.”

Customer #1: “Well, I want to use it on this one, as well.”

Me: *cringing because I know how she is about to react* “I’m sorry, but these coupons are only available to scan once. After that our system will void the coupon as invalid. I didn’t realize you wanted to use it on both. I thought you wanted to use your points—”

Customer #1: “OF COURSE I WANTED TO USE IT ON BOTH! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME IT WAS A ONE-TIME COUPON?!”

(She goes off into a rant about how she would have just used all of her points on one purchase, how I needed to tell her that it was only a one-time deal, and many other things that go over my head as she continues to yell. Meanwhile, the entire line is watching her go off on me. Finally, my manager comes over and tells her that it is written on the coupon that it is one time only, but ends up giving her the 20% off, anyway, to keep her happy. The customer finally leaves and I am left, slightly shaken, to take care of the next person in line.)

Customer #2: “So, I have one of those coupons to use, but I’m not going to yell at you about it.”

During Halloween, we sell special themed necklaces that people can buy either online or in store with a voucher coupon.

On the first night of our most recent Halloween season, I was working alone with another team lead who was new and had never done this type of event before.

We scanned one person’s coupon, but it wouldn’t print. We thought it was our doing and tried many different ways of scanning the voucher. The customer, however, was calm and polite throughout. This should have been a tip-off for us. Finally, we decided to just give them the necklace and keep their voucher for the manager to work out later.

The next day, the manager pulled me aside and showed me the voucher the customer used. You can only use the voucher the day of purchase, and the customer had bought it two days prior. This means some retail associate gave the customer back their voucher and they decided to use it again. This is why they were so calm; they knew they were scamming us and wanted to watch us scramble and give it to them for free.

(I am working at the cash register during our supper hour when we get a lot of customers coming through. Note that very recently, we have released coupons to arrive in the mail for every household, as well as printable versions. Customers are allowed to use more than one coupon at a time.)

Me: “Hi, I can help you over here.”

Customer: “I have multiple coupons today.” *pulls out her purse and proceeds to pull out five printed coupons*

(These coupons are “Buy one, get one free.” So, with a sandwich and a medium fry, one can get a second sandwich for free. She starts giving me her order, consisting of four burgers, four orders of nuggets, two chicken burgers, one large wrap, two small wraps, and five orders of fries.)

Me: “So that’ll be $51.95. Is this for here or to go?”

Customer: “That’ll be to go, dear.” *sits down and waits for her order*

(A coworker helps me deal with the rest of the customers in line. While they come and go, the first customer patiently waits for a while, staring at her remaining coupons, before coming back up to the counter. She calls me over to help her.)

Customer: “I would like to remake my order, using these coupons instead.” *she presents five printed coupons for a “two can dine for $10.49” deal*

Me: “Um… Let me ask a manager to see if they can help out.”

(I find the closest manager and explain the situation, and my manager refunds the order and hands her back her money. She then proceeds to put in the same order, using the new coupons. These coupons come with two sandwiches, two medium fries, and two medium drinks per coupon, so her order now also includes ten orders of fries and ten drinks. When asked if this is all right with the customer, she responds that it was fine.)

Manager: “So, after putting in the new coupons, your total is now $70.08.”

Customer: “But each coupon is $10; that can’t be right.”

Manager: “It’s $10 per coupon, but this is also with your drinks and extra fries, plus your wraps.”

Customer: *slams down her refund money from earlier* “Well, this is unacceptable! I want my order done the way it was before!”

(My manager had to redo the order once again, leaving my coworker to deal with the rest of the crowded lobby. Our line-up didn’t get any smaller as long as she was there, who kept us busy for about 20 minutes to make sure her order was done correctly.)

(We’re having our big spring sale and the store is very busy. A man comes up to my register and I ring up over $200 worth of merchandise for him. He shows me his phone with a popular third-party coupon collection app pulled up and a one-word coupon code listed. We currently only have one in-store coupon out, and that’s definitely not it.)

Me: “I’m sorry; that looks like an online-only coupon. I can try it, but I don’t think it’ll work.”

(I type in the code and, as expected, a message pops up stating that the discount cannot be used in-store.)

Customer: “You mean to tell me that your company puts out coupons that can only be used online and not in the store?”

Me: “Actually, a lot of companies do that. The online store often has different sales than we do.”

Customer: “So, you’re saying that I could buy all of this crap online for a cheaper price, because that’s the only way this coupon will work?”

Me: “Well, not exactly. We’re having a big sale right now in the store. I can almost guarantee that everything online is full price, plus you’d have to pay for shipping. That’s why they put out those codes, in order to get you to order the full-priced items online. I think you’re getting a better deal in the store, even without the coupon.”

Customer: “Are you kidding me? This is no way to run a business!”

Me: “I’m really sorry. I can offer you the in-store coupon we do have right now for $15 off your purchase, but that’s all I can do.”

Customer: “Fine. Add that on, and I’ll look up another coupon.”

(I try to explain that coupons don’t usually combine like that, but the customer ignores me. He then proceeds to spend the next ten minutes staring at his phone, looking through coupons on the third-party app. He finally finds one to his liking, and shows his phone to me again.)

Me: “That coupon gave me the same message: ‘Cannot be used in stores’.”

Customer: “This is ridiculous! Fine, I’ll just pay for this now. But let me tell you: this is no way to run a business. I don’t know how you guys survive by being this dishonest.”

(The customer ended up coming back a few hours later, having signed up for the email list, which sends a percentage-off coupon. I then had to return his entire purchase, and re-buy it with the new code. Luckily, this one worked!)

(I work at a department store that is infamous for coupons. The coupons can be pretty amazing if used correctly, but they can’t be combined with each other on the same items. This is printed on the backs of all the coupons, and most customers are pretty understanding of this. It should be noted that customers who have the store credit card can earn cardholder-exclusive coupons, that take $20 off a purchase of $50 or more, which have the same rules about combining. One weekend, we have a special coupon that takes $50 off a purchase of $100 or more. It’s always popular, so we get a rush of people. One of the customers in my line gets around $100 worth of clothes, and uses the coupon, and then hands me a cardholder-exclusive coupon.)

Me: “Oh, sorry, these coupons can’t be combined, but you are saving over $50 as it is.”

Customer: “No, I spoke to [Newer Manager] over the phone, and he said I could use them. That’s the only reason I came here; I don’t want any of this otherwise.”

Me: “I’ll go ahead and give him a call just to double-check, then.”

(I call the manager, who has been known to make policy-bending decisions in the past.)

Me: “Hi, I have a customer here who says you told her she could use the $50 coupon and the $20 coupon all at once?”

Newer Manager: “Yep! I remember talking to her!”

Me: “Okay.”

(Because of the way the computer was set up, I had to manually take off the $20 first before I could apply the $50 coupon, since it would only allow one coupon per item. The customer went on her way, happy that she got more than $100 worth of items for around $30. I spent the rest of my shift hoping that no other customers overheard the conversation, and that the newer manager didn’t tell anyone else they could do that. Thankfully, it didn’t happen again the rest of the time I worked there.)