Retail pricing can often confuse shoppers, especially when discounts and percentages are involved.

So when one customer misunderstood the final price of a pair of shoes on clearance, it led to a dramatic clash at the cash register, leaving both the customer and the employee feeling frustrated.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

Customer confused by simple math

So I work at a shoe store. We have a clearance section.

The clearance shoes have a price tag that shows the original full price and then a sticker above that showing the discount amount—30%, 40%, 50%, etc.

This particular store tried to make the calculations as easy as possible for customers.

There’s a sign in the clearance section that displays what all the discounted prices would be for any shoe price, so customers don’t even need to do the math.

This confuses the heck out of people.

But it soon became clear their shortcuts couldn’t help everyone.

The other day, a woman came up to the front counter with $70 shoes that were discounted 70% and asked what price they would be. We’ll call her Susan.

Me: “Those would be $21.”

Susan: “No, they’d be free. 70% off of $70.”

The two continue to go back and forth.

Me: “No, they’d be $21.” (Doing the math out loud.) “Because 10% off of $70 is $7 off and multiplying that by 7 gets—”

Susan: “They’re 70% off, not 10%.”

Me: “I know, I’m just explaining the math.”

Susan: “They’re free.”

Finally, the cashier decides to let the calculator do the talking, but Susan still wasn’t getting it.

At this point, I grabbed a calculator and showed her all the steps to get to $21.

She didn’t seem convinced and ended up not buying the shoes.

Math is hard, but come on, lady.

What did Reddit have to say?

Giving away free items is actually not good for business, Susan.

But Susan isn’t the only customer who seems to struggle in the math department.

Customers expect to be treated as if they’re always right when more often than not, they couldn’t be more wrong.

Retail math is different than actual math.

Often times, no matter how clearly you explain, some customers just can’t grasp the basics.

Math clearly wasn’t this lady’s strong suit.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.