The way our company does sales tax isn’t exactly intuitive. We always charge state sales tax on the full retail price of the product, regardless of how much it has been discounted, which is questionable in itself, but anyway…

An elderly couple come in to buy a cell phone case, which is marked at $19.99. I go to ring it up for them, and good news!

Me: “This case is actually on clearance for $9.99; the total with tax is $11.24.”

Customer: “Hey, that doesn’t add up. Tax on $9.99 should be $0.75!”

Me: “I know it can seem confusing, but the policy is that the tax is based on the original retail price.”

Customer: “That’s unfair!”

Me: “I’m afraid I can’t change the tax.”

Customer’s Wife: “You were prepared to pay $20 for the case, but you won’t pay $11.25?”

Customer: “It’s the principle! Make the tax match the retail price!”

Me: “The only way I can do that is to charge you $19.99 for it.”

Customer: “Then so be it!”

He paid the full price and walked out muttering under his breath.

At some point, I stopped getting bills from my energy company. I called them every month asking for them, and each time I was told that they would fix it and I should get a bill the next month. I was paying every month, so I wasn’t too bothered.

Then, I ended up moving, so I called to get my final bill.

Employee: “It looks like you haven’t been paying enough monthly and have accrued a balance of [amount over £500].”

This was a balance nobody had told me about for the ten months I had been calling to get a bill.

Employee: “If you don’t pay this balance now, it will be sent to debt collectors, which will affect your credit score.”

Me: “I had no idea I owed anything!”

Employee: “Well, didn’t you notice you weren’t getting bills?”

Me: “Yes. Yes, I was, which is why I called you, emailed you, and wrote you countless letters, and everyone promised they’d sort it.”

Still, somehow, it was my fault.

Employee: “I can see no such records on your account.”

Me: “I have kept thorough records of who I spoke to and when. I had the letters signed, and I have read receipts for the emails, so if you have no record, that’s your problem.”

Well, they sent it to collections when I couldn’t magically pay them over £500 right away — complete with a tonne of fees for non-payment. It wrecked my credit score, and at the time, I worked for a financial company. Such a thing could jeopardise my job.

I went straight to the Ombudsman, who ruled in my favour. I did still have to pay some of the bill since I had used the energy, but I was awarded some damages for the time I had spent contacting them to fix the issue and for them putting me in a position where I might lose my job.

This is one of many reasons I will never go with that company again. If I moved somewhere they supplied, I would switch.

Client: “I need a new website; the one I have is crap. I paid some cheap designer to do it for $200.”

Me: “Yeah, with cheaper designers, you never know what you’ll get.”

Client: “I’ll never make that mistake again.”

Me: “Well, after reviewing your needs, I would estimate this website to be about $1,200.”

Client:  “Really… Let me think about it.“

Two weeks later, I call to check back.

Client: “This price is ridiculous. I know someone who can make this whole thing for like $250.”

A customer was looking at a Pioneer Elite Plasma TV. At the time — so long ago! — they were $4,999. It was a big, bad-a** TV for its day

Customer: “I’m interested in this TV, but it’s very expensive.”

Me: “I understand, but it is state-of-the-art with—”

Customer: “I don’t care about any of that. I know you work on commission, so I want you to know that I’ll only buy it if it comes in a woodgrain finish that will match my credenza.”

Me: “I’m afraid it only comes in the color you see here.”

Customer: “I just don’t understand why all electronics are black or grey these days. Anyway, you just lost a sale.”

She left the store — hopefully, to enjoy her credenza.

Certain supermarkets in Ontario do price-matching. If a competitor offers the same item by the same brand for a lower price that week, they will adjust the price to match it.

I use an online app to sift through all the local supermarkets’ weekly flyers to get the best deals by price-matching. You can save quite a lot of money that way. When you check out at the counter, you just show them the app showing the flyer of the competitor’s store, you say, “This store sells this item for [price],” and then they will match it.

I want to buy frozen vegan sausages, which the store’s own flyer claims are on sale for $4.99. However, the price on the shelf says $9.99 (no sale price). When I check out, I ask: 

Me: “Can you please confirm the price?”

The lady at checkout scans the item.

Cashier: “It’s $9.99.”

Me: “Well, it looks like you have the wrong price in the system. Your flyer says it’s $4.99. Can you price-match your own flyer for me?”

The lady is about to oblige when her manager from one checkout lane over wants to see what’s going on. She has the situation explained to her.

Manager: “I’m sorry, we can’t do that. You see, all our stores are franchised stores, and each store has its own flyer.”

This is a province-wide chain of supermarkets with nearly 150 stores in Ontario.

Manager: “We can price-match other stores, but we can’t price-match another franchise of this store.”

I didn’t even know what to say. I guess I’ll find the product in a different store and price-match there. Logic took a big hit today.