So basically I'm getting in trouble, possibly fired, over something I wasn't trained for or informed about.
I have never encountered a digital coupon before. At least not from a Not-Kroger-App. End of shift maybe 9/10 at night, only cashier, and front end manager is on vacation so we have a fill-in from another store who is on shift as supervisor at the moment. Anyways this lady and her daughter come up with a giant cart of groceries, coupons, and phone. They're all nice and smiles until the end of the transaction.
After a few coupons don't take for some reason or another they're getting mad, and that's not including the woman getting upset because I made a comment about a magazine she was talking to me about (how that American Sniper guy was killed. That if I remembered right it was a few years ago and there was a big hoopla about it happening at a gun range and by a vet. Of course /she/ is a vet and goes to a gun range). Then her daughter pulls out her phone and starts looking through it and then shows it to me. A coupon for like a little bit (50/60 cents) off something she had, and I pretty much just ask her if its a kroger coupon and all. She's like "Yeah it is. See. Right here it says Kroger, and they're on here under the Kroger coupons". She starts getting mean, and honestly I'm ready to get out of there. So I figure if it isn't a legit coupon it won't scan like all the rest, and if it does end of story.
It does, so I figure its good. And while I wait for them to grab the other one the fill in manager comes up and this is basically the convo:
FiM (Fill-in Manager) "Are you taking coupons from that phone?" Me "Yeah. Is there something wrong?" FiM "Are you allowed to take those at this store?" Me "I guess so since they scanned. I've never seen them before." Cust. "Of course she's allowed to take them. All the stores around her take them." FiM "I'm sure they do Ma'am, but I know sometimes we don't. I think I'm going to call [Normal FEM], and ask her about this real quick"
And at this point the Fill-In leaves to go upstairs and call the FEM. Doesn't come back for ten minutes, and the customer just decides that she's ready to go. Of course I'm not able to tell her I can't let her leave, and to keep from her wheeling out her cart like she was ready to do without paying I just process her card and give her her receipt. Then after a few more minutes the Fill-In comes back down and says that no we don't take them and make sure you don't take them again. Which I figure is my reprimand for the whole situation, and I pretty much commit to mind.
Then a few days later the FEM is back from her vacation, and the thirty or so minutes that our times overlap she just stares at me every so often. I of course get paranoid that there's like a big hot chocolate stain or something on my face that I missed. Since the incident from the night are pretty much out of my mind. Then I get a call on the register phone pretty much asking me if I took a mobile coupon and why. Before I can even get my explanation out I'm told that I had to know. It was in my paperwork when I started/trained, and by signing it I agreed to it. Which at the moment I'm pretty much going how am i supposed to remember that far back for one little thing. Instead I just apologize for it, and then she tells me I'm going to have to come up to the office the next day I'm on to talk with her since I'm going to be having a note to file amongst other stuff.
Which actually scares me a little since back when I first started I made a mistake and already had a note to file along with a warning that was basically screw up again and you're gone.
Then I basically spend the rest of my shift in the attitude "god i'm getting fired over like 50 cents" along with asking my coworkers whether they knew about this before this happened to me (the day after this happened and I was off everyone got refreshed over this policy) and the majority is pretty much "not before wednesday". The only person who had had been there a year plus. When I go home I go through all my paperwork to find this page since I have all my training papers and everything including copies of the ones I signed (because I'm very paranoid like that) and there's nothing there like the paper I was shown earlier that day. nothing about coupons, and I know with a certainty that I was not told about this in training (training didn't actually cover much do to some problems).
Now all exposition aside if I get terminated or suspended (since amongst the refresher everyone got about coupon rules was the warning that anyone caught taking one gets a note to file, a CA, and four days suspension) is there any way to fight and how?
Since besides this being over fifty freaking cents this is happening due to not being trained properly. No one working as a cashier that I talked to knew about this policy until it was brought up (except for that one person and probably the supervisors). They hadn't been trained on it either and apparently no one thought that it needed to be something reminded every so often since its so crucial.
Whats done is done. I don't see them firing you for this unless you are on probation. If it was really bad, they would have had a meeting then not later.
This digital coupon **** pisses me off to no end. The "EXTREME COUPON-ER" thinks they are the biggest bag of hot **** to ever walk through the automatic doors. It's disgusting.
Me: "No, ma'am, I can't take coupons from your phone. I must have a paper coupon so that we can redeem it for our share from the company."
EXTREME COUPON-ER: "Everyone else takes it!" (That is always their excuse so they can break policy. Always.)
Me: "I don't know what EVERYONE else does, but I can't take them. The only forms of coupons I am allowed to take are 1) Coupons printed from our Catalina printer. 2) The Gloss paper coupons that The Kroger Company sends to you in the mail. 3) Paper coupons you can print out from a manufacturers website or receive in paper form from a newspaper. This excludes Free items. 4) Manufacturer distributed coupons that a specific manufacturer sends to you in the mail. Must have a holographic imprint. and 5) Coupons that are loaded directly to your Kroger card via the internet. The coupons you're showing me are from a third party and are against the law. If I were to take them You and I both would be sent to prison for fraud."
By this point they are extremely angry that their "perfect" plan they had to steal money from the store is in danger of falling apart because they think they know better than I do about my job. They then demand to talk to my manager. I put their order on suspend and send them to customer service. I can't be bothered to deal with raving lunatics for my barely above minimum wage job.
But, no, we can't take coupons from SNIPSNAP or whatever it is the lunatics are using now-a-days. Especially those "This says if I buy $XX or more I save $X!" barcodes.
As for you, If I'm called to the mangers' office I would bring $0.50 and sit it on the table then ask for union representation. Do not sign anything; Do not speak and if the topic of money comes up point to the change on the table.
"It's yours. Go ahead and put it toward that bottom line you're, so obviously, concerned about."
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Would you like fries with th... I mean, your milk in a bag?
was it a coupon you scanned from the phone (fraud) or was she just showing you where she had an "E" coupon that was loaded to her Kroger Plus Card? There is a big difference!
If I'm called to the manger's office, I would bring 50˘ and set it on the table, then ask for union representation. Do not sign anything; do not speak, and if the topic of money comes up, point to the change on the table.
was it a coupon you scanned from the phone (fraud) or was she just showing you where she had an "E" coupon that was loaded to her Kroger Plus Card? There is a big difference!
^This.
If it's a Kroger digital coupon, tell the customer to load it on his/her card. You can also ask to see that it has been downloaded to the card by viewing the coupons already loaded.
Also, at my store, we were told not to scan coupons on digital mode. We'll accept their coupon if they print it out for us and see that it is valid.
Also, as the cashier, you're well within your right to ask the customer to wait while you verify if you're allowed to accept certain coupons. If they start walking out, page whoever the highest authority you can over the PA system for a "customer issue".
Next time, I also suggest scanning every coupon a customer may have, and set aside the ones that don't scan or are declined. That way, at the very least, if they've ran their card already and are trying to walk out, you can total out the sale reflecting the savings of the good coupons.
you should have a union rep and demand to see a copy of this sign off in your file. this might be a CA which isn't that big a deal, you know going forward the only thing you can scan off a phone is a kroger plus card. If you're in probation they could use it to get rid of you if they have too many people.
it should be in your cashier communication's book but who ever looks at those except in extreme circumstances? I even say that as someone who maintains those at my store.
