Holding Up the Lunch Line with a Coupon

I met my friend M for lunch today at a local chain restaurant near my office. In an effort to continue my quest to avoid paying full retail prices for 30 days

I brought along a $5 coupon from my Entertainment book. I arrived late, as usual, and poor M looked like she had been waiting for quite awhile. I didn’t want her to wait any longer so we rushed inside. There was a long line to order but it moved quickly and we got to the cashier in no time. M & I ordered and the cashier said the total would be $18 and change.

After I handed the cashier the coupon he said the total would be $16 and change. I thought maybe I misheard him the first time so I asked for an itemized receipt. Of course this request required help from the manager who had to leave his register to help my cashier. Luckily that transaction took less than 30 seconds.

I glanced at the receipt and found the mistake. The cashier deducted $2 from my total rather than $5. So I asked another employee if I could receive the $3 difference. He handed the receipt back to the manager who huffed and rolled his eyes.

I looked back and saw that the line for the register was nearly out the door. I felt a little guilty about keeping the hungry masses from their meals. M looked a bit mortified by the whole thing, but it seemed silly to let $3 sit in the register when it could just as easily be resting back in my wallet. Luckily the manager was able to provide the $3 refund within a minute. Honestly if it had taken any longer I might have walked out without it. I hate it when coupon users hold up the line.

6 thoughts on “Holding Up the Lunch Line with a Coupon”

  1. How strange that they gave you attitude.

    They obviously chose to offer the discount coupon, as it was in your book and they were the ones who entered the amount incorrectly into the register, so it was them holding up the line, not you.

    Good on you for sticking to your guns to get what you were entitled to!

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  2. Coupon users don’t hold up the line. Unprepared workers (due to poor management) hold up the line. If businesses offer coupons to entice customers, it is their responsibility to train servers to accept them.

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  3. I felt guilty for holding up the line, but after reading the comments on this post I tend to agree that the employee is really to blame for that, not me. Thanks for helping me see the situation in a different light.

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  4. I always use coupons and I don’t care nor pay attention if they roll their eyes. U just did what you needed to do. I’m very proud of you!

    Reply

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