Retail workers know that asking the same questions hundreds of times a day is just part of the job. Most customers answer properly, and things flow like they should. But of course, sometimes, a seemingly normal interaction takes a turn that leaves employees questioning reality.

In this case, the store had a program that allowed customers to receive discounts and special offers by entering their phone number or email before completing a purchase. So naturally, cashiers ask customers if they would like that option.

But one day, a couple spent over $600 and seemingly didn’t want to enter any information to get a discount. Until after the transaction. Yup.

This was so frustrating to the cashier that she still remembers it years later.

Read the full story and see what happened below.

This happened years ago but I still think about it a lot.

When I was in college I used to work part-time at a home improvement store that I will not name.

They had a loyalty program, not a paid membership type thing but if you signed up with your email and/or phone number you could get exclusive discounts and such.

Whenever people approached the counter to purchase something, the very first question we’d ask them was “Are you part of [program name]?”

So they could enter their information preemptively and have any discounts automatically applied to their purchase.

This couple came up to the register one time and as per usual, I asked them, “Are you part of [program]?”

This was their chance.

They proceeded to look at me as if I had two heads.

Now, a lot of people would sign up for the program without knowing what it was called, so it was possible that they DID have an account; they just didn’t know the program had a specific name.

I try again. “It’s our rewards program?”

They dubiously repeat “Rewards program…?” as if they’ve never heard of such a thing.

Maybe they just really didn’t know about it.

Fair enough. It had previously been called something else before we did a rebrand, maybe that’s where the confusion was.

“It used to be called [previous name], we recently changed it.”

Once again, they have no idea what I’m referring to.

I ask them if they would like to sign up and they decline. No problem.

I proceed to ring up their order, which is a LOT of items, easily totalling over $600 USD.

Once the final item has been scanned, I tell them their total and ask them to follow the instructions on the pin pad.

But then they remember.

The woman swipes her card, my computer alerts me that the payment has been accepted and auto-prints their receipt, which I hand to her.

“Alright, and there’s your receipt. Thanks so much for shopping with us, and you two have a great day!”

She takes her receipt. Looks at it. Looks at her bags containing $600+ worth of product. Looks at me. Looks at her receipt again. Looks at her bags again. Looks at me again.

She then asks me, “So where do I put in my phone number?”

There they go! A little too late, though.

My eye twitches. “I’m sorry, your what?”

“Yeah. I had a 25% off coupon with my account and I wanted to use it today.”

As it were, our ****** system didn’t allow me to partially refund items, nor to void an entire receipt.

Meaning I had to manually scan each item and refund them one-by-one, then do the entire transaction over again.

I nearly quit on the spot.

Some people’s brains are so fried, OMG.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who works fast and helps her coworkers, but is met with disapproval from her supervisor because of this practice

What did Reddit think?

Apparently it’s more common than we’d think.

Yikes.

Smart way to ask.

People get upset.

It will help them listen more closely next time.

Although modern life is really comfortable, it’s possibly making people too comfortable to pay attention and be curious.

They could’ve prevented that very easily by just paying attention and asking questions.

Of course they could be tired or worried about other things, but that was a pretty direct question she asked, besides the fact it would make more sense to ask where to put the phone number before paying, not after.

The cashier stated the program’s previous name and even offered enrollment. With nothing else to suggest they had an account, the purchase had to proceed.

Under normal circumstances, that might have been a minor inconvenience, but on top of that, it was a huge purchase.

Paying attention and being curious makes everything easier for everyone, including yourself.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a team that agreed to work overtime, but then not everyone showed up, leaving the rest holding the bag.