Wherein I argue semantics at Subway.

[Mr Hero]

I posted about this on CS, but I'm posting it again here so I can freely rip into this policy. Here's the link to the original post.

With that said, here's the story. I got a couple coupons earlier this week where if you buy a 6 inch and a drink, you get a free 6 inch. I ordered this as a footlong figuring this would be easier for all involved. When I got to the register, I was told I could not use the coupon.

Him: I can't take this since you ordered a footlong.
Me: But there's two 6 inches right here.

He eventually relents and rings me up as two 6 inches.

One of the replies says this could be grounds for a writeup or even termination.

WHAT THE F***! This has GOT to be the most asinine thing to write someone up about. You want your customers to use up an extra wrapper so they can use the coupon? Be my guest. I realize one wrapper may not cost much, but it adds up. If anyone knows a different point of view that I'm not aware of, I welcome it. But I cannnot see any reason this policy would be in place.

[Gravekeeper]

WHAT THE F***! This has GOT to be the most asinine thing to write someone up about. You want your customers to use up an extra wrapper so they can use the coupon? Be my guest. I realize one wrapper may not cost much, but it adds up. If anyone knows a different point of view that I'm not aware of, I welcome it. But I cannnot see any reason this policy would be in place.

Well, if its anything like any other coupon in existence, it likely has specific guidelines and has to be rung up a specific way in their system. No offence, but common sense would dicate you abide by the coupon and not do what you think would be best for them to do instead of the way they ask you to do it on the coupon. Trying to do it any other way likely ran afoul of the "No Substitutions" clause that the typical coupon has.

It doesn't matter if you think its silly. Heck, the employee probably does too. But thats not your call to make and making that call put the employee in an awkward position. Where you, by your own admission, insisted despite having put the employee in an awkward position. A cashier is a frontline grunt. He's gotta stick to the rules regardless of what you think of them.

You should have asked for the manager and spared both yourself and him instead of insisting he do something he might get in trouble for.

Turn this around and you'd be the SC in a CS story. Sorry to say.

[Mr Hero]

Since this guy was on closing shift, he was the manager. I wonder if I could have acted any different by either having a new order or having it rewrapped as two 6 inches instead of one footlong. I suppose the minute I ordered it incorrectly, there'd have been no way to avoid being sucky. Though you raise an interesting question, GK. How would you have acted in this situation as soon as you find out you placed the order wrong?

[Gravekeeper]

Since this guy was on closing shift, he was the manager. I wonder if I could have acted any different by either having a new order or having it rewrapped as two 6 inches instead of one footlong. I suppose the minute I ordered it incorrectly, there'd have been no way to avoid being sucky. Though you raise an interesting question, GK. How would you have acted in this situation as soon as you find out you placed the order wrong?

I would have apologized and explained my rationale. Then asked if it could be remedied by a cut & rewrap. If not I'd probably just save the coupon and paid for the footlong. But as you say, once you ordered it wrong you were kind of stuck on an inevitable course.

From his perspective he might have mistaken your last minute swap as trying to pull something over on him. Even if he couldn't figure out what. Or it could just have been something that would cause a hiccup in the sales system. Or it might even just be a pain in ass to void out and correct. -.-

[Imprl59]

Since this guy was on closing shift, he was the manager. I wonder if I could have acted any different by either having a new order or having it rewrapped as two 6 inches instead of one footlong. I suppose the minute I ordered it incorrectly, there'd have been no way to avoid being sucky. Though you raise an interesting question, GK. How would you have acted in this situation as soon as you find out you placed the order wrong?

As long as you told them you had the coupon before it was rung up there shouldn't have been a problem.

In that situation I would have told him "OK. I don't want that one then, I want two 6 inches". If he wants to be stupid enough to waste that product and remake it that's his problem. I'm all for not being sucky but sorry, the difference is literally one less piece of wax paper.

[Aethian]

You were being a SC and I'm starting to think a EW now as well. It may as well just be one piece of paper or one pieve of waxed paper but you had the coupon. You KNOW how it was stated on the coupon and then went and did something against that wording. Just like several upon several of the customers that people on CS deal with everyday.

I think you should be ashamed of your actions.

[Mr Hero]

As long as you told them you had the coupon before it was rung up there shouldn't have been a problem.

Yeah. I handed him the coupon and my CC before he rung up my total. And I had the coupon in my hand the whole time I was in line, though I doubt he got a good look at what it was.

[Mr Hero]

You were being a SC and I'm starting to think a EW now as well. It may as well just be one piece of paper or one pieve of waxed paper but you had the coupon. You KNOW how it was stated on the coupon and then went and did something against that wording. Just like several upon several of the customers that people on CS deal with everyday.

I think you should be ashamed of your actions.

The coupon says as follows:

FREE SUB!
Buy any regular 6" sub and ANY drink, and get a 6" sub of equal or lesser price FREE

(Picture)
Offer expires May 31, 2012
(Fine print)
Price and participation may vary. Excludes Premium Subs. Additional charge for Extras or substitutions of sides or drinks. Plus tax, where applicable. No cash value. One coupon per customer per visit. May not be combined with other coupons, offers, or discount cards. Coupon must be surrendered with purchase.

I even asked the worker if what I intended to order was a premium sub. It wasn't so I ordered. I'm afraid I fail to see the suck.

[blas87]

The radio station here every morning has a thing where the 10th caller gets two free six inch subs....you get them both at once, I don't get why they don't just say free footlong.

Meh, with the sub of the day deal, the Subway workers used to argue with me that I'd only get the discount price if I got two seperate six inch subs. Well, if that's the way they want it, that's how I did it.

[bex1218]

Funny thing is they cut the bread to make 6 inch subs. I wonder what their rules are if something like this happens. Cut the sandwich and make it 2 6 inch subs or remake the whole thing.

[smileyeagle1021]

You were being a SC and I'm starting to think a EW now as well. It may as well just be one piece of paper or one pieve of waxed paper but you had the coupon. You KNOW how it was stated on the coupon and then went and did something against that wording. Just like several upon several of the customers that people on CS deal with everyday.

Not having been there I can't say this for certain, but I'm failing to see the suck. I may just be lucky that we have really good franchises here, but the Subways I've been to are very loose on their policies with footlongs vs two six inch. Most stores, if you order two six inches that are the same type of sandwich will ring it up as a footlong, they figure that at the end they cut the footlong in half anyway, so what does it matter, it's the same amount of cost for them either way (except the wax paper, which is so cheap that it probably isn't inventoried at a lower level than by the case, I know when I worked fast food wax paper was inventoried by the case). In that context, I'd be wondering why the hell this person who normally has no problem ringing up two 6 inches as one footlong for a customer to help the customer all the sudden can't ring up a footlong as two six inches.
I don't know what the policies are like at the Subways near Mr. Hero are, so I could be completely wrong about the situation, but at least with the policies here, that would sound a lot more like an employee being unhelpful rather than a customer being unreasonable (I guess it all comes down to context)

[kiwi]

Most places want to know if you have a coupon BEFORE you order your items. Places around me even have signs stating that you must inform the cashier about the coupon before you order.

Saves a lot of stress on every ones part.

[Andara Bledin]

First off, it's a coupon for 2 6-inch subs and it has to be rung with 2 6-inch subs, not a footlong. If you don't like it, you can eat somewhere else; their house, their rules.

The time to mention the coupon is before you start your order so that there's no confusion about what it is you actually want. As Gravekeeper said, it's quite possible that the clerk thought you were trying to pull something with ordering a footlong and then presenting a coupon for 2 6-inchers. And it's also possible that it was a long day and he just wasn't firing on all cylinders.

^-.-^

[bex1218]

Add on, we don't know how the OP was acting at that moment. We are just reading from text. Maybe they are fuming now, but could have been polite when discussing the coupon.

[bainsidhe]

I don't think you were particularly sucky with your request, though it'd probably help in the future to explain and present the coupon before ordering. Then let them decide how to handle.

Subways around here would get a lot of folks jonesing for a $5 footlong, but they'd want each half made as two completely different sandwiches. Doesn't work that way, but it could be why the request gave the employee sudden pause at the cashier stand. It sucks, but they might've thought you were trying to pull one over on them somehow.