Bad Retail Slave Tries To Overcharge A Wise Fellow Slave

KennelKitty here with a story about being on the other side of the counter! As some may know, I spent several years working for Hurls Sr, a fast food restaurant known for its specialty burgers and "sexy" commercials. That being said, it's safe to say I know the menu pretty well.

While out of town, I stop at the local Hurls drive thru early in the morning for a breakfast burrito combo. Everything at the speaker went well... Until I saw the price on the receipt. Every item in the combo had been entered separately, plus the hash browns were entered as the larger size without me asking for that. This caused it to be several dollars more than it should have been.

Now, it's early morning. Yes , I can a bit grumpy like anyone, but I was polite and pointed this out to the woman who took my order. She looked at me straight in the eye and said, "No, there is no combo for it."

Now this is a lie. The particular burrito I ordered isn't up on the menu board but is an option on the register. And yes, there is a combo option as well. The size choices for the combo are three buttons right below the individual burrito button, in blaring red and yellow.

Knowing this was not true, I called her out. "Are you sure? I've ordered a combo like this in the past."

She continued to assure me that no, there was no combo for it. After a few more gentle pushes that yes, it was, I finally had enough and pulled the "I worked here" card.

"Ma'am, I've worked almost every shift at Hurls for several years. I know the menu options very well, and I know there is a button for this. I even have an old receipt for one here. Please fix it."

It was like I said a magic word and the combo option magically appeared on her register now! "Oh yes. I guess there is a combo option."

I got my food and correct change back before leaving, baffled and sort of angry at the service I'd just gotten. Was this woman telling this nonsense to other customers? Was she just not trained on the register or intentionally ripping people off? What really bugged me was that this was a shift manager that told me this! Shouldn't she know her register a little better than that?

Also, I know I was tired and I did my best to stay polite, but was I a crusty? I'd like to think I wasn't.

May all your custies be nice,

--KennelKitty

Comments

[Sales Agent Guy]

You weren't being a crusty. You were merely pointing out a fact that you should know very well. Seriously, if that woman was doing that with other customers, I doubt she'll be working there longer.

[Veteran Bartender]

Definitely not a crusty. Also when I worked at a fast food place, I always tried to put things in as combos or whichever the cheapest option was for the customer - better price for them & less buttons to push for me, I thought it was a win-win situation?

[cashierbtch]

You were not a crusty. The difference being: crusties think they know what they're talking about, you actually did know what you were talking about.

She may be intentionally overcharging to make sales look good? I'd make a comment to the manager on the matter, but don't make it seem like you're accusing her. Just say "Oh, well, she made a few mistakes and maybe needs a refresher course on how to run the register."

[Dan]

I'd report her. It very much sounds like she's ripping people off.

[TechNoLogic]

That's actually a common tactic used by cashiers to pocket a little extra cash.

I'd guess that the security cameras in that restaurant either don't work or don't exist. If you know that cashiers at that particular chain don't have access to cancel and re-ring a purchase without manager involvement, the manager is probably in on it as well.

I once worked in a franchised business where that happened on almost every purchase; it was called "skimming". Each cashier had a stack of corporate-reimbursed coupons below the counter to ring down almost every type of purchase made, and we were encouraged to ring purchases as higher-priced items outside of current specials, then cancel out and re-ring the purchases as all lower-priced and coupon items once we hit a lull in business. Managers got a large cut of the "change jar" (scam proceeds and legitimate tips) and split the rest up based on various criteria.

I should add - being new to the workforce and misunderstanding the system at the time, I used the coupons to give the customers discounts instead, frequently getting what I believed to be tips from the "change jar", until someone higher up caught on that I wasn't bringing in any extra money and explained the scam to me. I stuck around long enough to get another job and give my two weeks notice.

(I will admit, in retrospect I probably shouldn't have continued working and should have tattled to corporate. Chalk it up to being young and dumb.)

[BeyondTheFail]

Totally not a crusty. You had every right not to be ripped off, especially when you know how it's supposed to work.

[NC Tony]

The fact that she looked you in the eye and straight up lied to you is proof enough that something's rotten in Denmark. She probably gets away with it with people who don't know the menu like you do.

[Retail Psycho]

I've come across stuff like this before and what they do is ring you up at the higher price and once you leave they go back in and change the price to what it should have been and then pocket the change themselves. Might only be a few bucks on an order but take a couple of hundred orders a day and it all adds up

[Thatfatguy]

Sounds to me like she was going to pocket the cash afterwards.

[Blanket Mouse]

I work a Hurl's, and until the register update this Wednesday, we had the "select the item, then choose the combo from the submenu" layout rather than the "select combo size, then item" layout. It's really throwing our people off, because the tech support company went ahead and changed the layout with no warning. So my first thought was that she thought the item doesn't have a combo (anymore?) because when she pushed the button it didn't give her the option to make it a combo like she may have been expecting. I mean, if it's breakfast she got the first shift with the change, so it's possible she just didn't know what was going on. (We've also got a bunch of optional items and combos our franchise doesn't opt-in to and getting people to understand that just because it's there doesn't mean we sell it is it's own special kind of heck.)

Was she telling the nonsense to other people? More than likely.
Was she poorly trained? Possible.
Was she ripping people off? That's possible too. It's like every thief thinks they're so cleaver they can't get caught.
On orders by her manager? I'd believe it. I've had more than one boss encourage us to put in medium or large when the customer didn't specify a size.
Shouldn't she know her register better? Yeah, but like I said, we just got that layout, maybe they just did too and she didn't have a chance to learn it yet.