Turning Coupon-And-Off

(I receive a coupon by text message from a sandwich shop chain and stop into the location near my home to take advantage of the deal. The coupon says, “Any six-inch sandwich and drink for $4.” I order the sandwich, then go to the register where the employee behind the counter asks if I want a drink or chips with it. I reply:)

Me: “Yes, I have a coupon for a sandwich and drink for $4.”

Employee: “What size drink do you want?”

Me: “Usually, the coupon will say what size drink; is there a certain size?”

Employee: “No, it doesn’t say.”

Me: “In that case, I’ll have a large drink.”

(Why not? It’s the same price no matter what size.)

Employee: *pushes some buttons on the cash register and says* “That’ll be $5.54.”

Me: “No, the coupon says, ‘sandwich and drink for $4.’ I expected to pay $4, plus whatever sales tax, but certainly not that much.”

Employee: “Well, that coupon isn’t programmed in our register, so I don’t know what to do.”

Me: *getting a little annoyed, but staying polite* “Look: your company sent me this coupon, and I only came in here because of the coupon. Can’t you figure out how to ring it up?”

Employee: *gets exasperated and starts getting very defensive* “Well, the sandwich is $3.99, anyway, so the coupon doesn’t matter.”

(At this point, I’m thinking this should be easy. Just ring up the regular priced sandwich and a free drink, right? Nope, the employee still can’t figure it out. She turns to her coworker for help. The coworker tells her pretty much what I would have said: ring up the sandwich and make the drink free. The employee glares at me, pushes more buttons, and looks up and says:)

Employee: “Okay, that will be $3.”

(I hand her a $20 bill and she gives me $17 back. I return $1 to her and say:)

Me: “No, the coupon said $4, and that’s what I expected to pay.”

(I took my sandwich and drink and left. I have no idea how she came up with the $3, and I can’t help but wonder how much time her manager spent trying to cash out her register that night.)