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Rewards programs are simple enough until checkout somehow turns into a communication puzzle.

A hardware store cashier asks the usual loyalty question, only for a customer to suddenly insist on paying cash.

Instead of clearing things up, every explanation seems to make him even more determined to hand over money immediately.

See how one rewards question became a very confusing lesson in checkout basics.

Phone number isn’t a payment, sir

I work as a cashier at a hardware store that uses a rewards system.

Today I did my typical greeting at the register, asking if they have a rewards number before continuing with the rest of the transaction.

This may have seemed like a simple question, but the customer quickly made things more complicated than they needed to be.

The following ensued:

Me: “Do you have a rewards number, sir?”

Customer: “No”

Me: “Okay, would you like to sign up?”

Customer: “No, I want to pay with cash.”

The cashier tried to explain, but the customer still wasn’t getting it.

Me: “…Sir, the rewards system has nothing to do with whether you pay cash or card. It gives you points which give you rewards.”

Customer: staring at me blankly
“I want to pay cash.”

The customer clearly wasn’t going to budge on this issue.

Proceeds to hand me cash even though I haven’t scanned anything.

Me, giving up: “Okay.”

By far one of the dumbest things I have heard regarding the rewards system and/or payment. He was acting as though signing up for the rewards system meant he couldn’t use the form of payment he wanted.

It’s tough to reason with people who refuse to understand reason.

What did Reddit think?

This commenter has had the misfortune of dealing with similar customers.

Some customers even kick their annoying behavior up a notch.

Other customers don’t even deserve the benefit of the doubt.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a restaurant employee who decided to put the staff over customers despite the official policy.

The customer in this story could really work on their listening skills.

The customer kept treating the rewards signup like it would somehow prevent him from paying cash, even after OP explained they were unrelated.

He finally started handing over money before anything had even been scanned, leaving the cashier to simply give up and finish the transaction.

Apparently the only thing harder than earning rewards was explaining that cash still works.