So there’s this snack my dad and I (and the dog) like. It costs $5.69 at the grocery store. For some reason, the gas station down the street sells this snack for $3.69 (consistently - not on sale). I’ve made a habit of picking up this snack every time I go to the gas station to buy cigarettes.
A couple months ago, the snack producers started putting $2 coupons in the snack package. That’s a pretty amazing deal - what costs me $5.69 at the grocery store now only costs me $1.69 at the gas station!!
I’ve been buying two packs of the snack now every time I go in to the gas station, and faithfully returning with my two $2 coupons when it’s time for more. The clerks ring it up and I’m on my way.
Except last night. There were two new clerks at the station - one happy middle-aged guy and one young adult person who CLEARLY did not want to be there. There is something about that Speedway that makes the clerks hate their jobs and their lives AND feel the need to express this to customer, I’ve noticed.
I put my snacks down on the counter and place the coupons on top, and ask for my cigs. The clearly unhappy clerk immediately gets offended by my coupons.
Unhappy Clerk: “What are these?”
Me: “Coupons. For those.”
UC: “Are you kidding? [to other clerk] Hey what are these?”
Other Clerk: “Coupons. For those.”
UC: “For these? What am I supposed to do with them?”
OC: “Ring them up like a coupon.”
Me: “Yeah look. Look at this package, ‘$2 Coupon Inside’. I do this all the time. Just ring it up.”
UC: “How much do these cost?”
Me: “Four bucks each. Just ring it up.”
I’m standing there in my karate uniform, as I’ve just come from karate class, looking like an utter moron - not only because I am wearing a karate uniform but because I am also buying snacks and cigarettes while wearing a karate uniform. This situation is NOT good for my social anxiety.
UC: “Are you sure? [to other clerk] Are these coupons for these things?”
OC: “Yeah look. Coupon is for 8oz package. These are 8oz packages. Ring it up like a coupon.”
UC: “Whatever.” - he tries to write on the coupon with a pen, but since the coupons came out of a snack package they are plastic coated and the pen doesn’t work.
OC: “Here use a marker.”
UC: “Whatever” - uses marker, rings up purchase, processes credit card.
Me: “Thanks. Goodnight.”
UC: “Whatever.”
This kid did NOT believe that my coupons were for the product I was presenting them for. Even though the evidence was quite strong for my case.
Why the hell does he care anyway? He’s not going to be losing money on the transaction. And why doesn’t their scanner work for coupons? Couldn’t he have just put the coupon’s bar code in front of the little laser and have the computer tell him it was all good?
I wonder what the hell goes on in the Speedway corporate family that makes everyone that works there HATE their jobs so much. There’s 2 Speedway gas stations in my town and there are ALWAYS clerks there that are the most angry, apathetic, customer-hating clerks I’ve ever seen. I mean literally, two of them TELL me how much they hate customers. But I see them still working there every single time I go in.
I wonder if they are always in the midst of being robbed while I’m there, and I just don’t know it.
