'She was trying to steal': Scammy Karen tries to use a fake '99% off' coupon to swindle the cashier, gets pinched by the cops instead

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jul 8, 2023 7:00 PM EDT

It seems like we're always getting email promos for 10% off or 20% discounts to our favorite retail stores. Very rarely, you see a 40-50% sale and only when a store is going out of business do you catch anything higher than 75% off. That's why when one cashier spotted a Karen waltzing into their store with a 99% off coupon, they smelled something fishy. 

OP was the manager of a retail store that sold cell phones. While training the new-hire, a Karen wandered into the store with a fistful of coupons and a vendetta against the new girl. After demanding the store take her coupons, OP was drawn to the noisy scene because the cashier was weeping at her post, traumatized by the berating attack of the coupon woman. Fortunately for the cashier, OP could sense a scam a mile away and shut down the woman's requests, suggesting that a coupon scam from the week prior could have been her doing as well. OP made eyes at the policeman at the door and instant karma was served.

Scroll for the full story on how this Karen got what she deserved after making a newly hired cashier girl cry at the register for refusing fake coupons. For more stories of Karens in the wild, check out this employee that got sweet revenge after being yelled at by a patron. 

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/Eternum713 17 hours ago Karen tries to pay with fake coupons L
    via Eternum713
  • 02
    Font - Background: I used to exclusively sell cellphones inside of a middle class retail chain. This service was actually ran by a different company then the retail chain itself. We would provide all of the nicer cellphones (iPhones and Samsung Galaxies, $800 - $1500), and the retail chain provided the cheaper prepaid cellphones. My team and I
    via Eternum713
  • 03
    Font - would sell all of the phones, but only we could sell the nicer phones. At the time of this incident, I was the team lead for my store, meaning that when it came to the nicer cellphones, I was the final word. We never discounted the phones directly, but various service providers would authorize rebates and incentives, and that was it.
    via Eternum713
  • 04
    Font - When you bought a nicer phone from us, we would directly pull up your service provider account and set up the phone directly, and they would provide any discounts, credits, or rewards. We were also able to report Fraud through this system. The story:
    via Eternum713
  • 05
    Font - It was a slow day at the cellphone station, so I decided to do a cold sale lap of the store, leaving a newer team member, Let's call her Tina, in charge of the cell phone area for the 20-30 minutes it would take to find someone to buy a phone. I was gone maybe 10 minutes before I get a call from the
    via Eternum713
  • 06
    Font - store manager asking me to get back to the cellphone station because there was an issue. When I get back, I see Tina is about to cry while an overweight Karen is holding a small piece of paper and yelling at her. As I get closer I hear the word "coupon", and I immediately know what's about to go down.
    via Eternum713
  • 07
    Font - Less then a week ago, Tina had accepted several fake coupons (My day off and her partner called out without telling me) and severely discounted the nicer phones on the fake coupons. She was new, and we
    via Eternum713
  • 08
    Font - hadn't covered that you can never discount the phones yourself, nor that we never had coupons for these. Afterwards, I made it clear to her that our team will never discount the phones.
    via Eternum713
  • 09
    Font - Cut back to the present, I see the store manager watching from around the corner. I waved him off and strode forward. Facing Tina, I asked what's is going on. Tina let me know that the Karen wanted the newest iPhone, and was trying to use a 99% off coupon. Before
    via Eternum713
  • 10
    Font - she could continue, the Karen cut in "I don't know what the issue is, she accepted these coupons last week from my friends!". Karen then pushed the coupon towards Tina, like that would magically change the situation.
    via Eternum713
  • 11
    Font - I told Tina to take an extra 15 in the back, and then turned back to the Karen. I was p ssed, and I think it was showing just a bit, because Karen flinched. While I hadn't been in to much trouble over the coupon issue the week prior, I had been
    via Eternum713
  • 12
    Font - passed over for a for a promotion to another store because of it, and I was not in the mood. Not only was she basically trying to steal a phone, she had specifically targeted Tina. "Who told you that Tina would accept this ridiculously fake coupon? Was it Kathy?" (We
    via Eternum713
  • 13
    Font - had records for the nicer phones, and Kathy's account was banned from every one of our locations because of the prior incident) Karen became pale at the last question, and I think she realized that she was in trouble.
    via Eternum713
  • 14
    Font - She tried to mention something about the retail chain accepting these types of coupons, and I laughed. I explained that the retail chain didn't have any say over the nicer phones, and that we worked for a different company. She tried to insist that we had already taken these coupons before, so why couldn't she use them now? At this
    via Eternum713
  • 15
    Font - point, I was done, and told her, in no uncertain terms, that we will never discount the nicer phones, and that she would not be purchasing phones from this location period. Fortunately for me, the store manager had hung around, and I called him over.
    via Eternum713
  • 16
    Font - "Can you call asset protection?" I picked up the coupon and handed to him. "Using a fake coupon is stealing, and this woman also knows Kathy from last week.' Karen tried to run, but we were lucky in that police were already at the entrance for an entirely
    via Eternum713
  • 17
    Font - separate issue. I heard later that Karen did get past them initially, but the police were informed of the situation and were able to detain Karen before she made it to her car, and then arrested Karen. Unfortunately, I don't know what happened after that, but I did give a statement about this incident two weeks later to the police, so I think charges were filed.
    via Eternum713
  • 18
    Font - TLDR: Karen makes coworker cry while trying to use fake coupons for an iPhone. I call Karen out on the attempted theft and figure out she knows a woman who did the same thing last week. I call her out and she gets to talk to the police.
    via Eternum713
  • 19
    Font - johnman300 17 hr. ago Instant Karma. Awesome! ↑ 82 Reply Share Venice2seeYou - 5 hr. ago Karenma!
    via johnman300
  • 20
    Font - Radio-No 7 hr. ago Oof big womp womp sound. Would love to see her explaining to her friend that she got arrested for the same scam
    via Radio-No
  • 21
    Plant - SnooWoofers5703 - 15 hr. ago Must have been a funny sight to see this Karen make a run for it....
    via SnooWoofers5703
  • 22
    Font - Eternum713 OP 31 min. ago I personally hope she tattled on the friend when she was talking to the police.
    via Eternum713
  • 23
    Font - JustanOld BabyBoomer 9 hr. ago I presume these Entitled THIEVES all got PERMA-BANNED! 22 Reply Share Eternum713 OP. 9 hr. ago I actually don't know. I ended up leaving that company about a month after the end of this post. I do know that location I worked at had her picture in their ban book when I left, but that isn't permanent.
    via JustanOldBabyBoomer
  • 24
    Font - Mollylover1140. 3 hr. ago Not accepting coupons should have been the very first thing Tina should have been taught.
    via Mollylover1140
  • 25
    Human body - Interesting_Sock9142 6 hr. ago 99% off? For the newest iphone? Get outta here!
    via Interesting_Sock9142
  • 26
    Human body - SpazzJazz888 hr. ago Sounds like the company I used to work for. Karen's be Karening
    via SpazzJazz88

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cops employee trainee manager stealing retail new hire retail worker fake arrested fraud scam training coupon Reddit karen thief entitled people police
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