I’m waiting on a couple and, as I give them their check, they also ask for the bill of a single army veteran I’ve also been waiting on. I happily give them the check and wait for them to leave before telling the man his bill was paid by a couple that wanted to thank him for his service.

Veteran: “Well, I really appreciate that. Honestly, I don’t need help with money, but here. Take this and if another veteran or just someone who seems to need the extra help comes in use it to pay for their bill and tell them ‘Merry Christmas.’”

He gives me $15, about the cost of his meal.

Me: “I would be happy to, sir, and thank you very much.”

All of this occurs as another table I have of two ladies that just ordered kids’ meals are getting up to leave. They are at the table right next to the veteran; they head out to the store area, I’m assuming to pay their bill and leave. I quickly clear the table and pick up the $4 left on it. About two minutes later, they return and stop me as I come out of the kitchen.

Lady #1: “How much money did we leave on the table?

Me: “There were $4 dollars left there.”

Lady #2: “Are you sure? Because she is missing a $5 bill?”

Me: “I’m sorry, I did not see it. There were only four ones on the table, but feel free to look around that area in case it fell on the floor.”

Lady #1: “Oh, no! What am I going to do?! I’m just not sure how I’m going to pay this check without it.”

As she is saying this, she keeps glancing at my server book where I have the money the veteran gave me separated from my own.

Me: “I’m sorry. I did not see it, again, but feel free to look around.”

I walked away thinking, “Your bill was only $5; it should not be that hard to come up with.” Later, I realized that the first lady had walked out without paying her bill after hearing the guy give me money to pay for someone’s meal. She decided to try and get the money from me, and after I ignored her fishing attempt, she just left figuring that I would have to do so anyway. Fortunately, my manager just wrote off the check and, by using my employee discount, the money the veteran gave me was enough to buy two meals for the many veterans that frequent my restaurant.

I work one summer at a local store of [Major Fast Food Company]. I work the morning shift as I have a second job in the evenings. One morning, after we have switched from breakfast to lunch, this customer comes to my register.

Customer: “Hi. I’d like [item], please.”

Me: “Certainly. Your total is $1.17.”

I turn around, grab the item and bag it, and turn back to collect his money. He gives me a $20 bill. I take it, set it across the till as we are taught to do, take out the $18.83 in change: a ten, a five, and three ones — note the order — plus eighty-three cents.

Me: “It was $1.17 and here’s your change. Eighty-three cents makes two, three, four, five, ten, and twenty.”

As I hand him his food, the customer folds the bills in half, puts the change in his front pocket, and then immediately pulls it out again. During this, I put the $20 bill under the drawer and close the till.

Customer: “Excuse me, you didn’t give me the correct change.”

He holds out the bills and shows me a one, a five, and three ones in that order.

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but I gave you the correct change.”

Customer: “No, you didn’t. You gave me a one-dollar bill instead of a ten.”

Me: “No, sir. I counted it out to you. A ten, a five, and three ones, plus the coins.”

By then, I have figured out what happened by the order of the bills. He must have had the second set of bills already in his pocket and switched them so he could scam me out of the $9 difference.

Customer: “No, you counted so fast that it looked like you gave me a ten, but you gave me a one, instead.”

Me: “Sir, if you’d like, you can give me your name and address. We’ll count out the till and if you’re right, it will be over by $9. We’ll mail the money to you.”

Customer: “No. I want my money now.”

One of the assistant managers has seen us debating and comes over.

Manager: “Hello, sir, what seems to be the problem?”

Customer: “This kid short-changed me. He gave me a one instead of a ten as part of my change. Look!”

Me: “I counted out his $18 in change. A ten, a five, and three ones. He now says I gave him a one, a five, and three ones. I offered to take his name and address and we’ll mail him the difference after we count the till.”

Manager: “No, it’s not fair to make him wait like that.”

She opened the till, took out $9, and gave it to the customer, who walked away with a happy smile and his food. She then closed the till, ran the count report, took both back to the office, and returned with a fresh till for me. She then returned to the office and counted the till. Surprise! It was $9 short.

After the store manager arrived and was told what had happened, he came to me and congratulated me for handling it correctly. I give credit to the assistant manager for not trying to blame me for her mistake. He then asked me — during the lunch rush! — to write out a description of what had happened so he could send it around to other fast food restaurants in the area.

Guess who had a discussion with the store manager about proper till procedures?

Related:
Manager, Manage! Part 4
Manager, Manage! Part 3
Manager, Manage! Part 2
Manager, Manage!

Since getting hit by health crisis layoffs while my wife was on leave caring for our newborn, takeout and delivery food are luxuries we use sparingly. We still live in a complex with a fairly affluent population because our landlord prefers we stay and pay some rent rather than the expensive reletting process.

We order delivery on [Popular Platform] and the order total is above $50; the order proceeds as normal until the items are picked up. Then, the tracking seems to look like the driver is weaving all across the opposite end of town. That’s no big deal as it usually means they have other orders to deliver. However, after waiting half an hour beyond the expected arrival, I have a chat with customer service.

Me: “This is regarding [Order Number].”

Customer Service: “One moment, please.”

They do an ID verification.

Customer Service: “It looks like the item has been delivered.”

Me: “Delivered? To whom? Nobody has been to our door and no food has been left at the gate.”

Customer Service: “The driver has marked the food delivered, so it has been. Your card will be charged. I will not be doing any refunds at the moment for you.”

Me: “If you can tell me when the person came to our door, I can check to see if someone stole the food off our steps as we have cameras.”

Customer Service: “Well, they were at [Suburb twenty minutes away] where they picked up the parcel, and then they drove to [Suburb even further away] where they marked the item—”

Me: “Please check my verified address against the suburb the item was last seen in and check how far apart they are.”

Customer Service: “Erm, it looks like the driver has been stationary for a while. Let me call them.”

When they return:

Customer Service: “I don’t know how to say this… It looks like the driver marked your item delivered, started their break, and they were in the process of eating your food when they decided they needed a beer to go along with it and just drove home. How about I ask the restaurant to remake the dish? They will deliver it as soon as they finish eating.”

Me: “So, your solution is for someone who admits to being drunk on the clock to drive across town to pick up the food and drive to my home. I’ll be reporting you for your tone earlier accusing me of just making up a complaint, and now for covering for a drunk driver.”

A common thing pet food companies do at times is attach certain coupons to every other product, such as a “buy one get one free” offer for a little package of cat food, and people can redeem them with their next purchase.

A customer walks up to my register with her cart absolutely chock full of this one type of cat food, which is unfortunately common. As her husband begins placing the cat food on the register:

Customer: “Hello, I have a couple of coupons to use!”

We usually accept several different coupons on a purchase if the parameters are met, so I’m not surprised and happily agree to take them.

She then takes out several fistfuls of coupons from her purse and piles them ALL on the counter as I’m ringing up her order. I’m talking along the lines of a small mountain of coupons on my register for her cartload of cat food.

Realizing this is going to take a while, and seeing three people queuing up behind her, I call another cashier to help everyone else while I sort through this lady’s coupons and purchase.

The coupons are all the same “BOGO” manufacturer coupons that sometimes come attached to products — she must have bought an unholy amount of cat food to have gotten this many — but I dutifully begin ringing her up and putting in the coupons.

After the first one, the register won’t scan in any of the other coupons, and upon closer inspection, it clearly says on the coupon that it is “limit one per customer per purchase,” i.e., that she could only use one of these coupons when she clearly planned on getting HALF of all of her cat food for free.

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but it appears that these coupons limit one per purchase, so you can only use one.”

Customer: *Unfazed* “Oh, I was worried about that, too, so when I was in here last week I asked one of the workers and they said it was okay to use several!”

Me: “I’m sorry. If it was just one of our salespeople they may simply have been misinformed, as it clearly states that it’s a limit of one per purchase here. Only a manager would be authorized to tell you that.”

Customer: “Oh, you know what? Now that I think of it, it was a manager!”

Our store isn’t that big, and we have three managers, one of whom is a woman and two of whom are men of very different statures and appearances. All of them always wear name tags with their names on them, so I ask her if she remembers which manager it was.

Customer: “Oh, I don’t remember their name!”

Me: “Was it a man or a woman?”

Customer: “I’m not sure, sorry, but they did say I could use several coupons at once, so please ring them up!”

By now I’m suspicious since she can’t even remember who she spoke to, and since the computer requires a manager’s code to override instructions for coupon parameters that are already met, I call over my manager. I explain what’s going on, and the manager says the same thing to the customer, who keeps insisting she was told she could use these fifty-plus coupons.

The manager then goes to the office and calls the store manager, who isn’t working that night, to ask him if he’s allowed to authorize this sale.

Manager: *Returning* “The store manager says you aren’t allowed to use more than one, but just this once he said we could use five. But please know that, after this, you can only use one per purchase.”

The customer complies, and, after deciding not to buy about 70% of the cat food that she brought up, leaves, after an ordeal that took at least half an hour.

Later that night, my manager approaches me.

Manager: “You know that lady with the coupons?”

Me: “Yes?”

Manager: “Last week is when we last got a shipment of that cat food with those coupons, and I stuck them on myself in the morning. Later that day, all the coupons on the cat food packages were ripped off every package on the shelf. I guess that lady came in, took them all without buying the product, and decided to use them all a week later. Guess it didn’t work out for her!”

Related:
The Couponator 21: The FINAL Sale
The Couponator 20: Coupons Of Mass Consumption
The Couponator 19: Fast Food & Furious
The Couponator 18: The Digital Revolution
The Couponator 17: Attack Of The “Programmer”

I find a child’s bike dumped in the bushes near my house. It’s in great condition so I wonder if it’s been lost or stolen.

I put a post in the social media group for my area.

Post: “Found: child’s bike, [make and model], in [Area]. If this is yours, please let me know what the unusual stickers are to claim it. I will hand this in to the police station if it’s not collected by the end of the week.”

A guy who has no children on his profile comments on my post.

Guy: “Can I have this, please?”

Me: “If this is yours, please tell me what the stickers are.”

Guy: “Yes, it has stickers. When can I collect?”

Random Person: “It’s not for sale. It’s been lost.”

Guy: “I want it. Give it to me.”

Me: “I don’t believe you. You can claim it from the police station when I can get over there and drop it off.”

He messaged me a few times privately, even offering me money as a “reward,” but I decided to hand it to the police. A few days after I did, a woman messaged me and told me it was her son’s bike, some kids had taken it, and she had only just seen my post.

I regretfully told her she needed to go to the police station to go through the process with them.

Happily, I later got a message with a photo of a very pleased looking kid on his bike. It looks like it all worked out.

This story is part of our Best Of December 2020 roundup!

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