Had a lady try to pay for a $12 sandwich with a coupon for a free oil change

I work at a deli in a strip mall next to a Jiffy Lube. This older woman came in yesterday, ordered our turkey club, and when I told her the total she handed me this crumpled coupon from the auto shop. I was like, ma'am, this is for 10W-30, not sliced turkey. She got super serious and said 'It says right here, good for one free service.' I had to explain, slowly, that we make sandwiches, we don't change oil. She argued for a solid five minutes that a deal is a deal and the coupon didn't specify a location. My manager finally came over and just comped her sandwich to get her out. Has anyone else had a customer try to use a coupon for a completely different business?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese_nelson5d agoOG Member

At my old coffee shop job, a guy tried to use a buy-one-get-one-free movie ticket stub for a free latte. I just calmly pointed to our menu board and said, "I can do the latte, but the ticket says Regal Cinemas, not Daily Grind." He finally laughed and paid. Staying super calm and just stating the obvious fact usually works.

joelt704d ago

That Regal Cinemas ticket story is a good one. Did you ever have someone try to use a coupon that was so expired it was basically ancient? Like, years out of date, from a company that doesn't even exist anymore. I'm curious what the most ridiculous expired coupon attempt you got was, and if the calm fact method still worked on those.