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Imagine going to a store with a coupon, but when you see your receipt, you think the total should be less because of the coupon. What would you do if the cashier explained that the coupon didn’t work as expected? Would you complain to the cashier, complain to corporate, or simply accept that it didn’t work out the way you had expected?

In this story, one cashier who works at a video game store explains a quirk with their store coupons. Most customers understand, but one customer complained.

Keep reading for all the details.

I thought you wanted your money back?

So this happened to me when I was still employed at a popular video game retail chain. Won’t name names but let’s say that it’s the place to stop for your game. I worked there for about eight years and this occurred around the last year I was with that company when I was a store manager.

Now, in my area, we have about five of these stores. Because of this, it’s not unusual for another store to send someone to you if you had a particular product in stock that a guest wanted. No worries, we’ll take care of them.

I got this kind of call that day and was sent a guest who wanted to pick up a pre-owned version of a newer video game that had just come out (I don’t remember what game it was, only that it was still pretty new at the time).

As he came up, I already had the game pulled and was starting to take care of him. He had the paid membership that we offer and a $5 off coupon.

Coupons aren’t always a good deal.

Now this is where I have to throw some math out at you.

At the time, the membership gave people a 10% discount on any used games they purchased. This game was $54.99 and proudly advertised the discounted price of $49.49 for members on the label.

However, coupons worked in the system in a quirky way. Essentially, any coupons took off the “standard price” of the game in the system. In this case, it was $54.99 making it $49.99 with the coupon before the 10% discount took effect.

I usually explained this to guests before they used the coupon because most of the time they expect it to take off the discount price, i.e. $49.49 – $5 = $44.49. This also leads most people to believe that they’re losing money by using a coupon.

OP thought this customer understood.

After explaining how it works however, most people understood and were okay with it or decided to just wait and save their coupon for later.

Once again, no worries. Glad I could help.

After going through my usual spiel with this guest and explaining the coupon oddity, he said that’s fine and we finished up the transaction.

As I hand him his receipt he takes a look at it and promptly says, “Wait, this price is wrong.”

The customer didn’t understand.

What do you mean?

“It should’ve been cheaper. The coupon should’ve taken off the lower price.”

No, no, no…I already explained this as I attempt to tell him the spiel again.

“No. The coupon should take off the lower price that’s advertised!”

OP decided to make it right.

At this point, he was starting to become irate. This being my last year at this job, I was pretty done with most things. Cue my malicious compliance.

What this person didn’t realize is just how much he “supposedly lost” by it not taking off the lower price.

It was a 50 cent difference…

I looked at him and said, “You know what, okay then. I’ll refund the difference for you, sir.”

Now, the customer tries to backpedal.

I popped my register, grabbed two quarters and forcefully placed them on the counter.

He sees the two quarters and I can physically see the gears turn in his head.

Here you go.

“Aw man, I mean…that wasn’t my point.”

That’s not what the customer wanted.

Okay, then what was your point? I thought you wanted your money back?

“Nah, man. It should just work the other way.”

I already explained why it does that, it’s not going to change but I am happy to take care of you still.

This led to him wanting to speak with a district manager (DM).

Let’s see how the DM handled it.

We didn’t give out our DM’s number to just anyone, they usually call you. I contacted my current DM at the time, explained the situation, and left it in his hands.

I told the guest my DM will call you and he accepted this and left.

I later came to find out that this wasn’t the guest’s first time complaining about this. He had already been told before how it works and I guess still decided to cause more issues with me at a different store. My DM informed me that he didn’t do anything more than explain what I had already explained to him and I never heard about it again.

Moral of the story; always pick your battles, especially when only 50 cents is on the line.

Also, to answer the burning question, he didn’t take the 50 cents.

That’s frustrating for both people. I agree with the customer that the coupon should work differently. I get his frustration. It’s not the cashier’s fault, but corporate needs to change how this works.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person is kind of glad the customer complained.

A GameStop employee weighs in.

This person is on the customer’s side.

The customer is right. GameStop is wrong. But it’s not the cashier’s fault. The customer needs to complain to corporate. There shouldn’t be a sneaky quirk in the way a coupon works. It should just work as advertised.