ethical person
to do?
By Moristotle
[This “Ask Wednesday” post of 10 years ago today (April 3, 2013) seems to me reminiscent of Goines’ TurboTax squabble of this year.]
For today’s interview, I want to try something different. I want to interview you. If you agree to be interviewed, please leave a comment with your response to a multipart question I will pose about a recent situation I was involved in.
Last week when I was checking out at a local grocery story, I received a printed coupon for $6 off my next total purchase of $50 or more. The coupon didn’t specify that it had to be presented in order to get the $6 off. Because I have a store membership card and my cumulative purchases are tracked according to my member number, it was natural to assume that the printed coupon was simply “for information only”—a reminder to come back and shop at the store.
After dinner a couple of days later, I decided to return to the store—mainly to get just one item that my wife wanted for us to have for breakfast the next morning, but I decided to shop for enough items to use the coupon, even though I really didn’t feel quite up to it. I was tired from yard work and was moving—and no doubt thinking—slowly. I nevertheless managed to keep a running total to know when I could stop and go check out. When I went through the line, I told the checkout person about the $6-off coupon and was looking forward to seeing the $6 deduction show up on the monitor.
But it didn’t show up. I asked the checkout person why.
“Do you have the coupon?” she asked.
“I didn’t bring it,” I said. “Why do I need it? Doesn’t it show up on my electronic account, same as the $0.05/gallon gas reward at [your partnering gasoline station]?”
“No,” she said. “You have to present the coupon.”
“Okay,” I said, “I don’t want any of these items.” And I abruptly walked away and left the store, leaving everything right there on the counter, including the one item that I’d really come to get. I didn’t care—I was miffed, particularly because collecting everything had taken almost half an hour, I was so tired and stumbly.
The next day I looked at the coupon and confirmed that it said nothing about needing to be presented. Then I went to the store’s website and submitted a description of what had happened, concluding with the paragraph:
“I would gladly have taken the $6 off immediately, right then and there,” John said.
I told him that I was sorry too, I felt bad about just leaving everything there and walking out. “I was just so tired,” I said. “I wasn’t thinking straight. It didn’t even occur to me to ask for the store manager.”
“And the clerk didn’t call for me either,” John said. “I’m so sorry.” He told me that he didn’t want to lose a customer. “I want to keep every customer I have,” he said.
When we said good-bye, there was good feeling all around.
The phone rang again immediately. “It’s John. I forgot to say: I’m going to mail you a $10 gift card. You can use it anytime, for any amount. No need to spend $50.”
“Oh, John,” I protested, “there’s no need to do that!”
“I want to do it,” he said. “You should receive it in a couple of days.”
Now here are some questions, the gist of which is, What should I do, or what would you do?
Would you both go back to the store with the printed coupon to spend $50 and get the $6 off and, on a different occasion, use the $10 gift card as well?
Or would you use either the coupon or the gift card, but not both? (If not both, which would you use?)
And what is your ethical rationale for whichever option you would choose?
The coupon will be valid for a few more days, so comments left before Saturday could come in handy for my ethical decision-making. Thanks in advance for participating in this different kind of “Ask Wednesday” interview!
By Moristotle
[This “Ask Wednesday” post of 10 years ago today (April 3, 2013) seems to me reminiscent of Goines’ TurboTax squabble of this year.]
For today’s interview, I want to try something different. I want to interview you. If you agree to be interviewed, please leave a comment with your response to a multipart question I will pose about a recent situation I was involved in.
Last week when I was checking out at a local grocery story, I received a printed coupon for $6 off my next total purchase of $50 or more. The coupon didn’t specify that it had to be presented in order to get the $6 off. Because I have a store membership card and my cumulative purchases are tracked according to my member number, it was natural to assume that the printed coupon was simply “for information only”—a reminder to come back and shop at the store.
After dinner a couple of days later, I decided to return to the store—mainly to get just one item that my wife wanted for us to have for breakfast the next morning, but I decided to shop for enough items to use the coupon, even though I really didn’t feel quite up to it. I was tired from yard work and was moving—and no doubt thinking—slowly. I nevertheless managed to keep a running total to know when I could stop and go check out. When I went through the line, I told the checkout person about the $6-off coupon and was looking forward to seeing the $6 deduction show up on the monitor.
But it didn’t show up. I asked the checkout person why.
“Do you have the coupon?” she asked.
“I didn’t bring it,” I said. “Why do I need it? Doesn’t it show up on my electronic account, same as the $0.05/gallon gas reward at [your partnering gasoline station]?”
“No,” she said. “You have to present the coupon.”
“Okay,” I said, “I don’t want any of these items.” And I abruptly walked away and left the store, leaving everything right there on the counter, including the one item that I’d really come to get. I didn’t care—I was miffed, particularly because collecting everything had taken almost half an hour, I was so tired and stumbly.
The next day I looked at the coupon and confirmed that it said nothing about needing to be presented. Then I went to the store’s website and submitted a description of what had happened, concluding with the paragraph:
Anyway, why AREN’T such things as coupons handled electronically? If that isn’t possible, then PLEASE include (IN BIG BOLD LETTERS) on the coupon that it must be presented for redemption. Also, why couldn’t the clerk have said she was sorry but she would let me bring the coupon back the next time I came for a $6 refund? As it was, I was miffed, I didn’t take the one item I made the trip for (besides the $6 reward); I had wasted the checkout clerk’s time; the store had to deal with the items I had been meaning to purchase; and my reputation in the store may have been damaged. I’m actually a little bit leery of showing up there again.The next day, during lunch, I was surprised to receive a telephone call from the store manager. John was his name, and he was very apologetic about the situation, so sorry that he hadn’t been called to the checkout counter to help.
“I would gladly have taken the $6 off immediately, right then and there,” John said.
I told him that I was sorry too, I felt bad about just leaving everything there and walking out. “I was just so tired,” I said. “I wasn’t thinking straight. It didn’t even occur to me to ask for the store manager.”
“And the clerk didn’t call for me either,” John said. “I’m so sorry.” He told me that he didn’t want to lose a customer. “I want to keep every customer I have,” he said.
When we said good-bye, there was good feeling all around.
The phone rang again immediately. “It’s John. I forgot to say: I’m going to mail you a $10 gift card. You can use it anytime, for any amount. No need to spend $50.”
“Oh, John,” I protested, “there’s no need to do that!”
“I want to do it,” he said. “You should receive it in a couple of days.”
Now here are some questions, the gist of which is, What should I do, or what would you do?
Would you both go back to the store with the printed coupon to spend $50 and get the $6 off and, on a different occasion, use the $10 gift card as well?
Or would you use either the coupon or the gift card, but not both? (If not both, which would you use?)
And what is your ethical rationale for whichever option you would choose?
The coupon will be valid for a few more days, so comments left before Saturday could come in handy for my ethical decision-making. Thanks in advance for participating in this different kind of “Ask Wednesday” interview!
| Copyright © 2013, 2023 by Moristotle |
I would use both. Your intention was not to elicit something more than you were originally understanding as the offer. That coupon is meant to entice consumers who only buy one item to buy more. And 10 years forward, even more of those are being offered on your preferred customer cards. As far as using the other extra coupon, you didn’t complain just to get another discount (there are people who do just that) and it was he who offered it, even after he knew he had taken care of his customer and you would come back to shop at his store. If I felt any tinge of guilt over it, I would still use it and donate the items to the local food bank.
ReplyDeleteNow one for you. Last Sunday, on my way to St Louis for a concert, my headphones stopped working and I remembered that a truck stop sold a cheap set that I figured could take care of my needs. I went in and purchased them, taking the receipt in case they turned out not to be compatible with my phone. As it happened, they did work, but because of the volume limit and my damaged hearing, they really are not going to work long term. I was going to just eat the $30, but I had a friend who was heading that way (75 miles out of my way) and who was willing to take them back for me. I went to grab the receipt and looked at it, noticing that their machine did not get a good reading and it declined my card. I checked my account to find out I never paid for the item at all. Now, do you drive 75 miles out of your way to return the item that you inadvertently “stole?”
Of course you don't make a special trip of such a distance just for that! But, if you pass that way again on another trip....
DeleteThat "Anonymous" was me, trying to comment via my iPhone, which, for some reason I don't understand, doesn't let me comment as fluently as I can on my iPad and computer. Oh, well.... Your first paragraph seems a similar response to that of Underthebelly: "I'll tell you this much; make sure you carry the $10 gift card with you the next time you go to the store. The memberships at these stores are not there for your benefit, but for the company's tracking purpose. They also sell the results. A lot of the junk you get in the mail is targeted at you because of this tracking. I do however cheer you for your boldness of taking on 'Big Brother'. Keep an eye on the sky---the next sound you hear maybe the black helicopters. (smile)"
DeleteYou earned the $6 coupon thru your purchases. To compensate you for your time and aggravation, the manager kindly gave you a $10 gift card. You are more than entitled to use both... I would!
ReplyDeleteLisa, a couple of people had similar reactions originally. Sharon Stoner: "Use both and at a same time. Not unethical . Just good luck." and Dawn: "I think you should take them up on both offers. I think the manager showed excellent customer service ! Kudos to him !"
DeleteWhat about you compensating the checkout cashier for the abrupt and rude way you left your items which she then had to put back in the shelves and held up other customers??
ReplyDeleteThe sense of entitlement you showed by demanding that you didn’t need to bring your coupon is appalling behavior!
Would you go to bank and demand they pay the $50 you forgot to bring with you??
That cashier is only earning at most, $12 an hour with no health insurance or PTO etc etc
Be kinder to your “servants”. They’re just doing a job!
Thank you for upholding the clerk's side of the story. I have, in the intervening years, come to appreciate the situation of clerks and other employees much more empathically. We shoppers are no more deserving than they of human kindness and patience.
DeleteWhile you may be a bit harsher on me than I deserve (accusing me of having "a sense of entitlement"), I agree that I treated the clerk rudely, and I owed (still owe?) her an apology for my abruptness, which, I see now, might have been taken as "being demanding" rather than as patiently conversing and explaining the reasons I thought the coupon was not needed. If I had not been so tired and had engaged her in such a conversation, she might well have gotten around to calling the manager over RIGHT THEN, which would led to a much more equable outcome.
The commenter motomynd made a similar comment on the original post: "If you walked out only because you were miffed and therefore created an uncomfortable situation for an employee who had no part in making the rules for coupon use, I would say don't use either discount and try to avoid going back to the store for a few weeks.
"My rationale is any protest based on ethics should be directed at the people making the rules, not the employees who have to follow the rules or lose their jobs. You didn't ask this question, but the best way to have handled the situation may have been to have paid for the order instead of leaving it on the counter, and then followed up as you did on the store's website. That way you would have your discounts with clear conscience, the manager would be aware of the problem created by the lack of clarity on the coupon, and the store employees would not have been put in the middle."
The sense of entitlement comes in you believing you were right, irrespective of what was written or not written on a coupon, to demand your $6 when you had no evidence of such an amount.
ReplyDeleteI again say to you, had you gone to a bank to pay money into your account but had forgotten to take it with you - would you demand the bank still add that amount to your account? The answer of course is “no”!
The same applies to a store “cash” coupon unlike a coupon for discount produce which you can clip to your account to save taking it with you to present at time of purchase.
Also I guarantee that although you only encountered this one cashier and behaved as you did, they would’ve had multiple angsty customer that week or even that day!
On the “dilemma” as to do you use both coupon and gift card I actually have no issue in you using both as the company issues them however I’m sure the cashier would’ve had a “talking to” based on your complaint to the manager! I also think you absolutely should apologise to the cashier for your behaviour that day which I’m sure they’d be happy to receive!
All I can do at this point is explain where I was coming from, which I think I have done. As for apologizing, it is virtually inconceivable that I could identify the clerk and arrange to contact her.
DeleteOn the subject of multiple angry customers, I received an email from a friend in California this morning who reported:
"As you know, we have many areas that are flooded, included some diaries. Farmers had to move 700 cows in two days. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been.
"My neighbor works for the Tulare County Sherriff’s Department and had to tell people to evacuate. Some people were nice, but many were verbally abusive and refused to go [emphasis mine]. One woman agreed to leave if she could take her couch with her. They took it, and her."
I totally understand that you wouldn’t be able to identify the cashier and that is sadly part of a big problem of customer/staff relations.
ReplyDeleteMany customers who have, for whatever reason, taken their angst out on the cashier fail to even look at their “victim” however I’m sure the member of staff will recognise you!
Don’t be surprised if you ever go in their line they are curt with you or even refuse to check you out!
The saying of treat people the way would like to be treated is sadly lost today!
Are you an expert on customer/staff relations? Did you write a master’s degree thesis or a doctoral dissertation on the subject? You speak so assertively and authoritatively about the problems of those relations! Like an expert.
DeleteOr maybe you’re a historian of culture? You mention that the Golden Rule “is lost today,” which seems to imply that there was a time when it was generally followed. If you can tell us when that was, please do!
And thank you again for cautioning me to follow it!
Ah, hold on, I think I’ve got it! Are you an ordained minister?
Do make yourself better known to us, if you would be so kind.
This is not a question of education level but more a question of humanity and how we treat each other- no matter our position in life and this world.
ReplyDeleteThe 21st Century has created a society of many who believe they are entitled to be right, even when they may not be! I believe it is contagious across all ages!
I’m amazed you didn’t know it was me or did you?!
It won’t let me post as me but wants me anonymous!
Penny, whose wise thoughts you share for only a penny, since you have now identified yourself (in comments on “Goines On: Anonymous”) as the submitter of these anonymous comments, I have let the fourth of them out of its holding cell, with charges dropped and anonymity forgiven. However, do, please, investigate how to correct the problem you’re having commenting under your Google ID. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHow strange! It will not let me identify myself!! Tried every thing I know, even used YouTube!! Last try for now……
ReplyDeleteNope. As soon as I type in the comments it will only allow “anonymous”. Wierd! Penny
What device are you using? Have you tried to comment via a computer?
DeleteI don’t have a computer just my iPad and iPhone. Done everything possible! If I comment it doesn’t give me the option to use my g account but defaults to “anonymous”
ReplyDelete
Delete“Everything possible”? I doubt that, and I hope you continue to think of alternatives that haven’t occurred to you yet. One just occurred to me: use a computer in a local library. Not as a regular thing, but as a test. However, I suspect that won’t do the trick. Have you somehow been blacklisted by Google? You have written in previous comments of Blogger wanting you to be anonymous or not allowing you to identify yourself. What might you have done to offend Blogger? Surely, you are innocent. I would concentrate on securing your Google ID. Have you studied the discussion in “How to recover your Google Account”?
I have done everything available to me but it still will not let me post via my g account even though all is good with Google for me! My Google account is secure there’s a glitch somehow with bloggers.
Delete