Dismissive treatment at a Michaels store

If you have a smart phone you could have pulled up any number of on
line coupons and used them at the time - eliminating having to
remember the paper one.

You could have asked them to hold the items you picked out at the
front while you went back and got the coupon. I know you said your car
was "up in the air" while you were shopping, but you could have gone
back and finished the purchase after you were done.

I absolutely think you should post this on those lists you are a
member of. I craft, and participate in crafting discussions, and when
I read stories like these I feel like they tell me much more about my
fellow crafter than the business they are complaining about. Like
that he/she badgers store employees when he/she is inconvenienced.

People have really grown to feel like everything should be
ultra-individualized. Like they, their desires, should always merit an
adjustment in policy or alteration procedure just so that they receive
the best service for them personally right at that particular moment.
That seems like an awesome idea as it bounces around in your head, but
in practice it would be impossible to do this. In reality, if the
customer behind you heard that, he/she might have thought it would be
OK to make their own purchase then return to have it 're-rung' after
locating a coupon.

I also think you should have put your purchases aside, then come back
later with the coupon and finished the transaction. It's certainly
what I would have done, and it seems like it would have saved you a
lot of aggravation and time.

The cashier & the OP both contributed to the bad experience.

The cashier was rude and not professional. However, the OP walked back
into the store while she was angry and upset.

Behavior like this can put people on the defensive.

If I was in the OP's shoes, I would have waited until the next day or
later when I would be calmer before speaking to management.

It appears a cahier was being rude. Weigh your time and effort in this
equation. Could the coupon be applied to future purchases, without you
spending valuable time returning to the store getting a refund and
rebuying?

You asked, they told you no. You chose to argue about it and now
you're mad that they wouldn't budge.



What is there to address with the employees?

Good service does not mean you can't ever tell customers "no".

Even if you want to call it "rude"

I agree completely, except it sounds as if the sale was already rung
up when the customer asked about the coupon. Instead of receiving a
measured and composed response, she says "I was sarcastically and
meanly told NO", and from there, things escalated. The real basis for
the customer's complaint, in my view, was that she was rudely treated.

cos then after being told "no" the OP kept arguing about it.


Which leads me to think ... no matter how the employee said "no" it
would have come off as "rude" perhaps

I"m so on Team Michaels on this one. NOt every customer is worth
keeping.

1. Wanting them to do a return on a BUNCH OF BEADS ($100 worth?) then
rering them so you can save $6? Really?

2. $500 a year is not much at a store like Michaels.

3. Is your time worth so little that you did all of this over $6?

I understand you were upset & angry about the incident, but if I was
the manager or cashier, I am not sure if I would even tell a customer
I did not personally know why I was in a bad mood. I would not know
what to say at that point. For some people that could be a little
intrusive.

Perhaps it would be much better to complain to the corporate office.
Then corporate can decide whether or not to pursue the complaint based
on the information they get.

I would have to guess a customer prying about why they are in bad
moods and offering bad service would put them in bad moods.

Why would you not just buy the beads after you returned with the
coupon, or asked them to hold on to them til you returned?

Her comment about groceries was correct, would you buy groceries just
to return them later and re-buy them with a coupon?