Can I Admit Something?
I need to come clean on something...I am not an assertive couponer!!! There, I said it. I love saving money, and I love using coupons. But I am a very shy person, and when it comes to checking out at that register, I do not know how to stand up for myself! Let me give you an example...
Tonight I took my friend, Julie, along with me for my weekly Publix grocery trip. We haven't been able to hang out much lately, and she wanted to see one of my savings trips in action. She got stuck with the calculator (usually my husband's job). She did so fabulous adding my purchases up for me. =) (Thanks, Julie!)
I was going along, showing her how I do everything, explaining things as I went, etc. In the middle of checking out, I forgot that I needed one thing, so I ran back to get it. Because of that, I wasn't able to watch the cashier scan all of my coupons (bad mistake on my part). At the end of the transaction, the total came out to be about $7 higher than it should have. I told Julie, "Now...this is one of the advantages of using a calculator. I see that price on the screen, and I realize that it seems high. Therefore, something must have rung up wrong. But that's okay, we will just check the receipt and head over to customer service so that we don't hold up that line."
As I looked at the receipt, all of the items were fine. Then I began to look at the coupons. I realized that she had forgotten to scan a coupon worth $7!!! What did I do? I said, "It's okay. I don't want to bother her. Let's just go. It's not biggie." Julie is like, "What?! That's $7, miss coupon queen! I don't think so!!! You need to get assertive!" My face was beat red, and I said no. I did not want to make that poor cashier dig through those coupons.
We got outside, and Julie finally said she would go back in for me, because she hated to see me lose $7. Sweet friend of mine...she got me my $7 back. =)
Just wanted to share that...I guess to show you that even "experienced" couponers like me tend to get embarrassed at the register. Some of those jitters and nervousness just never go away, at least for shy people like me. I've gotten MUCH better, but there are still moments, like this one, where I'd rather walk out paying triple what I'm supposed to than have to face embarrassment! (I had already given the cashier some trouble, so I didn't want to cause anymore! You'll hear about that in tonight's Tuesday Tidbits and Tips).
What about you? Do you get embarrassed at the register? How do you handle check-out problems? Hopefully you're more assertive than I am!
posted by Meagan at
6:45 PM
5 Comments:
I feel like a scam artist sometimes when I pay so little. However I did stand up for myself tonight at Publix. I only bought 2 Tylenol cold pills b/c my hubby is sick. I had 2 $1 coupons and 2 Publix $2 coupons. The guy was not going to do it, I had to politely demand that he call a manager over to get an override to allow more than one coupon per item.
Ugh! I have the same feelings. The other week I knew I had hande dher 4 coupons for the 1.50 nestle cookie dough and I had bought 4, but only 3 coupons showed up. I asked her about it and she pulled them out showing me three...I looked at them a bit closer and saw one stuck to the back--she did not like having to re-do the transaction, and I hated questioning her, but i wanted my money! Not to mention, in that case the store would have pocketed money that hadn't been spent (since the coupon had been in her coupon folder the whole time, just stuck to the other)
Sometimes I've had to question them (or in some cases help them out if they don't know the coupon policy). It really depends on if I know the cashier or if there are people behind me in line. If there are lots of people, I usually don't make a fuss.
It was only easy for me to get your money back because it was YOUR money. If it were mine, I wouldn't be assertive. :)
I have learned to stand too!!! Some of the Publix cashiers have told me that I can not get anything FREE, excuse me? B1G1 allow me to use 2 coupons, if he or she do not believe me, I ask her or him to call the manager; they get furious when they are told that I was right.
I love when the manager or a knowledgeable cashier understand the meening of "couponing".
Maria T Owens
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