This one is honestly a little sad and I actually felt a little bad for the Karen. This Karen was an elderly woman, reminded me of my gran a little. I had just left sales and logged into returns (the joys of retail double shifts). I had just seen her pay and as she's walking towards the door, she looks quite upset looking at her receipt. I asked if she needed help and she comes over and says "the little tart overcharged her." Before explaining that the jam should have been 3.69 not 3.99. I know for a fact it is 3.99 so I ask her to show me where the tag was. She shows me and I show her that it's the price for a different jam and says (in quite bold letters may I add) Blueberry on it and not Lingonberry which is what she picked up. Well she starts pitching an absolute fit about how unclear it is to consumers and I give my usual smoothing over response "honestly, no one has ever brought this to my attention before so I appreciate it, I'll be sure to bring it up to my manager, thank you." Voice absolutely dripping with honey and for a moment she looked vindicated before saying "can i get the difference back then?"
Going through my head are 3 things: 1. We don't allow returns or adjustments on food items so I will get flagged. 2. If she wants to go through the process over $0.30... maybe money is very tight for her and that 0.30 would mean alot to her. 3. I can definitely say she never tampered with it and they literally can't afford to fire me.
Okay fine. I explain to her it'll take time and be about 5-10mimutes. Sure, great. Okay. I bring her over, open the programme and scan the receipt and the jam. I write all my notes, all the explanations. I then ask her for her name.
"Why do you need that"
"Just to finalise the return. It won't let me procede without basic information."
"Well I'm not giving you my name. "
"Just to finalise the return. It won't let me procede without basic information."
"Well I'm not giving you my name. "
...technically i can get by without a name though it will be another flag... great.
"Fine, how about just your postal code then."
"Why would i trust you with my postal code, you'll just sell it to the highest bidder. "
"Ma'am that's not it at all. We need it for fraud purposes. I am giving you a more expensive product for less than we sell it. By default this programme, which I did not make, forces me to fill this info out. Essentially if they find this happens frequently then it may be a fraud scheme and so this would allow them to see if a single person is committing fraud. That isn't what would happen with you but even still I need the information to reimberse you.
"Why would i trust you with my postal code, you'll just sell it to the highest bidder. "
"Ma'am that's not it at all. We need it for fraud purposes. I am giving you a more expensive product for less than we sell it. By default this programme, which I did not make, forces me to fill this info out. Essentially if they find this happens frequently then it may be a fraud scheme and so this would allow them to see if a single person is committing fraud. That isn't what would happen with you but even still I need the information to reimberse you.
She then started to complain about how i said i would help her and all I'm doing is trying to scam her and take her personal info. I assure her I'm not, even inviting her to see my screen where it literally won't let me proceed and then explained that her postal code is not even unique-- it's shared by everyone in her area.
She then says she doesn't want other people to overhear her saying it so I ask if it would be easier if she just hands me some sort of ID to write ot down from. This seemed to almost enrage her... she started demanding I just refund the whole amount... to which I unfortunately had to explain that I would need her information to do that too...
So she picked up the jar and threw it at my face before screaming "you're abusing me. You abuse the elderly." And leaving.
...i then got in trouble for even attempting to return a food product... and had to clean jam off the wall... was... not a great shift.