Store Customer Claimed The Owner Had Promised Him A Discount On A BBQ, So The Employee Decided To Call And Verify The Story
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Retail customers sometimes treat the owner’s name like a secret coupon code for unlimited discounts.
This particular shopper demanded a money-losing deal on a barbecue because “Jeff said to.”
Unfortunately for him, the employee also knew Jeff and reached for the phone to verify everything.
The grill was not the only thing about to get heated.
I know the owner, too.
This was many years ago, when I was still in the trenches.
Like any retail store, we regularly got “I know the owner” claims.
But we’re a small company, and everybody knows everybody, and the owner had a very open door policy for employees.
Here’s one example of a customer who claimed to know the owner.
I had one guy who wanted a steep discount on a barbecue (to the point we’d be losing money – margins are pretty low on BBQs), because “Jeff said to.”
“OK, that sounds like something Jeff would do. Let me call him and verify it.” While dialing the phone.
I think he actually did know the owner, from the way he ran out the door. Because the most likely response to that lie would have been to be banned from all our stores permanently.
That’s funny that the customer literally ran away!
Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.
This retail worker was in a similar situation.
Another retail worker shares how they used to handle this situation.
Here’s another way a retail worker handled an annoying customer.
In this case, the person the customer was talking to WAS the owner!
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Here’s a story that took place at a liquor store.
The employee calmly offered to call the owner, turning one confident name-drop into an abrupt exit.
The shopper ran quickly enough to suggest he knew exactly how Jeff handled people lying for discounts.
He came looking for a smoking deal and nearly got himself smoked from every store.
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