The Couponator 19: Fast Food & Furious

I work at a franchised fast food place with a drive-thru. At least once a week, normally much more often, we get a customer trying to use a voucher that is printed on a bus ticket to get a deal. On the tickets, it is stated, “Participating restaurants only, not valid at a restaurant with a drive-thru.”

As a franchise, and as we have a drive-thru, we can’t accept them. Normally, a simple, “I’m sorry, that offer is not valid at this store,” suffices. Sometimes, we have to point out that we have a drive-thru and that settles the matter, but we occasionally get someone who asks to see a manager who then has to explain to the customer why we don’t accept them.

Today, while I’m on shift at the front counter, a man with his wife and a bunch of kids ranging from screaming infants to moody teenagers comes in. He makes a huge order, all while the kids are screaming at him and me what they want and changing their minds.

I eventually get it all down and it totals up to over £50, so I have to call a manager over to accept the transaction, despite the fact that we are hugely busy and the manager has a lot of new starters to watch over.

Once the manager has gone to deal with something, the guy complains about the price, saying that it can’t be that much. I then repeat everything he has ordered back to him, each item with the price, and he shakes his head saying that it can’t possibly be that much. 

He’s right, due to some of his kids saying they “don’t eat chips” or not wanting a drink or wanting an ice cream instead of a drink; ice creams don’t come in meals. I eventually turn some the things into meals so they have fries and removes fries that are by themselves.

By now, I have been dealing with this one customer for like a quarter of an hour. We only have two other tills open and both of them crewed by new starters.

The guy still complains about the price before heading over to his wife who digs dozens of bus ticket coupons out of her purse. He brings them over and I explain that we aren’t a participating restaurant.

“How come?” he asks. I point over to the drive-thru window and then point out the “not valid at restaurants with a drive-thru” clause on the ticket. He then smirks and says, “Aha! But I’m not ordering this at the drive-thru.”

I explain that we still have a drive-thru and we are a franchise, so I cannot accept them.

He demands to see a manager, and the manager, who is trying to help out the trainees who have customers of their own and are struggling, comes over to help, points out the clause, and argues with him for a minute until he relents.

As soon as the manager has walked away, the customer stuffs the coupon in his pocket and, taking another one from the pile, asks, “What about this one?”

He then proceeds to make me go through each and every single coupon and explain for every single one why we do not accept it.

The worst shift ever.

Related:
The Couponator 18: The Digital Revolution
The Couponator 17: Attack Of The “Programmer”
The Couponator 16: Enter The Entree
The Couponator 15: The Transaction Void
The Couponator 14: Multiple Attack