One Simple Donation Prompt Became A Checkout Problem When A Grocery Store Employee Asked The Required Question And The Customer Responded Poorly
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Retail employees are often required to repeat corporate prompts that customers may not enjoy hearing.
Most shoppers understand that a charity request is an invitation, not a demand.
This woman heard a routine six-dollar donation question and reacted as though the cashier had personally audited her wallet.
See how this simple checkout question created a dramatic scene.
Asking for donations is now offensive
I’m very new to the retail world (2 and a half months in). I don’t know what I was thinking other than I needed some cash to save up for Christmas.
Really, someone should examine my head because I waited roughly 4 and a half months for this job. The corps would give hiring clearance and then cut hours, revoking the open position until it got to the point they had to hire someone.
Anyway, the corps for the grocery chain I work for loovvee to have charity stickers all over their names. It makes them look good and it’s great for tax season.
Her grocery chain is pushing customers to donate for a certain promotion right now.
Currently we are “selling” 6 dollar food bags for a local food bank. It’s part of my job to ask just before the end of each transaction if the customer would like to donate.
I’m tired of saying it, just as much as the customers are probably tired of hearing it. But, it’s for a good cause, so we push through.
A couple of nights ago I asked a woman if she would like to donate, I had no idea the reaction I would get.
M is Me. ROH is Rude Old Hag.
All she did was ask a question.
Me: Would you like to purchase a 6 dollar food bag to donate to (Food Bank)
ROH: What?
Her what was immediately snarky and I thought she didn’t hear me. So I explained what the food bags were for again and asked if she would like to donate. In no way was I pushing this donation, just explaining.
Different charities require different types of donations.
Continue Snarkiness:
ROH: What makes you think I have that kind of money? I thought donations were only a dollar.
ME: That was for cancer research, this one is for a local food bank.
I actually got a hat from the cancer research organization as a thank you. It was very nice of them even though I was late coming in on sales because I started working at the store during the last couple of weeks we were taking donations.
The customer explains why she’s not going to donate.
ROH starts to get even more huffy and rolls her eyes at me before she starts speaking again in a woe is me kind of way.
ROH: Either way, I can’t afford to spend that much money on someone right now. I’ll probably have to go to (Food Bank) and get help myself.
ME: I understand completely.
She didn’t need to be rude about it!
At this point she then slams her wallet down on my conveyor belt and starts aggressively looking through her wallet for money to pay her total.
She then lays singles down on the belt with some change individually knowing it’s hard to pick up like that.
The whole time she is mumbling about how us (the store) expects everyone to donate to whichever charity/organization we are supporting at the moment and how we need to stop assuming everyone can afford the extra 6 dollars.
I didn’t know that asking for donations could warrant such rude behavior. A simple no thank you or I can’t right now would have been perfectly okay.
The customer was unnecessarily rude. All she had to do was say “yes” or “no.”
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Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.
This person explains why the woman got angry.
Employees are required to ask, but that doesn’t mean all customers will like being asked.
A cashier weighs in.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an IT employee who thought a ticket was closed, only to hear otherwise from the client’s manager.
There’s no reason to feel guilty.
The cashier merely asked the required donation question and readily accepted that the customer couldn’t afford it.
The woman could have politely declined, but instead she slammed down her wallet, scattered her payment, and complained throughout the transaction.
The donation was optional, while the outrage arrived free with purchase.
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