Imagine working at a retail store that offers price matching if other stores have the same item for a better price. What would you do if a customer came in wanting to price match an item, but you knew it was a scam?

In this story, one department manager is in that exact situation, and he realizes it’s a scam right way. The problem is that his supervisor believes the customer.

Let’s read all about it.

Customer tries to get me fired because I won’t fall for his price-matching scam. Supervisor falls for it and gets fired.

Customer came in wanting to price match an item with Amazon. 89.99 on Amazon, I take one look at it and tell him :

“Nice try but, that’s a 3rd party vendor”, he gets mad wants to speak to my manager.

“sir, I am the department manager, and I am telling you we will not price match this offer”

“Well then I want to speak to a real manager and not some glorified associate”.

The new supervisor isn’t the smartest.

I page for an MOD, and out comes the new supervisor E.

E isn’t a good guy, he’s mostly useless a last minute replacement because our last supes transferred to another store. But sure E won’t screw this up, surely.

I was gravely mistaken.

“What seems to be the issue?”

The MOD looks at the customer’s price match request.

Customer argues about the price match.

E looks up on the customers phone “Hmmm, seems legit to me. It says Amazon right here”

“Uhhh, thats a third party vendor, not amazon. The retail price is $399, I think you’re mistaken, sir. Check on the computer, or call X our manager”

“no, no, the customer is always right, y’know? Mr. X wouldn’t want us to deny a sale to a customer based on a hunch. The customer is always right, and we have to strive to follow the example Mr. X set for us. Change the price on that, and I’ll override it”.

The customer got a really good deal!

Customer is clearly happy. You can see the smug grin on his face. Customer leaves with his item massively discounted.

I tell E “I hope you have a good explanation to AP and A about this. That item was $399, not $89.99”.

E doesn’t care and tells me I shouldn’t question him.

It didn’t end well for E.

Next day E isn’t there, and I’m pulled into the office and questioned by AP and my manager about what happened.

E has been terminated and they want to know what my role in this was.

I tell them E told me too and approved it and wouldn’t let me call management.

Management is feeling generous today, and I’m told to never let it happen and if anyone says otherwise I contact the shift manager or AP.

That was certainly a lesson learned the hard way for E. I’m glad OP didn’t lose his job for following E’s orders.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person has dealt with this exact situation many, many times.

Another person can relate to having a supervisor like this.

This person has sympathy for the guy who got fired.

They should’ve price matched with the shipping cost!

Price matching can really backfire for retail store employees.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.