'The advertisement... almost made me quit': Electronics store worker faces off with confused customers and Karens who didn't read the fine print

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Dec 14, 2024 11:00 AM EST

In the same way that dogs can sense an impending earthquake, this retail worker intuitively knew they were in for a wave of confused customers. You can tell this person, u/SushiThief, has been working in retail for a while. They write that while working at a toy store, they discovered that a major video game console was going on sale. It wasn't any regular sale. No, this time, the console was so cheap that it seemed too good to be true. And sure enough, too good to be true is exactly the lie the customers were being sold!

Although they could get a game system for just under $100, they weren't looking at the fine print. That specified that they had to spend even more money on other purchases in order to get that special price. But trying to explain that to a customer who's in line, anxious to pay and leave the store, can sometimes just result in a total meltdown. No matter how many times you explain it, it just might not get through to them, making it a frustrating experience all around. Keep reading below to see if this person quit their job or not! 

Next, read about the clingy coworker who was insisting on getting a ride with her coworker, with one commenter telling the original poster, "Your boss doesn't have your back." 

Advertisement
  • 01
    25.95 1995 $.95 5.99 LEGO STAR WARS HORARIO MAANAS 103 10: 15,00 42,95
    via Victoriano Izquierdo on Unsplash+

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    The advertisement that almost made me quit. Medium I used to work for the Toybox and they decided to have a special sale on the Woo video game system. I'll never forget walking into work and seeing the sale sign, just a few weeks before Black Friday, that said: GET THE WOO FOR $99.99 I immediately wanted to call in sick because I knew my day was about to be destroyed, but a manager had already seen me, so it was no use.
    via u/SushiThief
  • 03
    You see, with that sale, you could indeed get the Woo (which retailed at $249.99 at the time) for $99.99, but like all deals... you had to read the fine print. To get the Woo for $99.99, you had to purchase $150 of other items to make that deal happen. These other items were: • (1) 20 pack of Toybox AA batteries. ⚫ (1) Lame looking Olympics game with popular characters for 2 different franchises. ⚫ (1) Specific gaming ottoman for the Woo. ⚫ (4) items of your choice made by Gear Ape for the Woo s
    via u/SushiThief
  • 04
    It would ring up as $99 for the Woo, and $150 for the other items, meaning you ended up spending the regular cost of the Woo of $249.99 Did many people actually read all those details? F___ NO!
    via u/SushiThief
  • 05
    I barely made it to the electronics section where I worked before I heard my phone ringing, which as expected was someone asking, "Are you guys really selling the Woo for $99?!?!" These were the easier part of my day because I got to let the customer down gently and because they'd already questioned the legitimacy of the sale. You see, Toybox had sent emails out about the deal with the subject line "GET THE WOO FOR $99.99" with the details inside the email.
    via u/SushiThief
  • 06
    Then came the Karens, male and female alike. Person after person who'd thrown on their shoes and rushed to the store to get their hands on a $99 Woo, only to b at me when I told them there was more to the sale and they needed to read the entire email. I'll never forget one particular grandkaren though. Her: (walks right up to me, and ignores my greeting) "I want the Woo for $99.99!"
    via u/SushiThief
  • 07
    Me: (internal groan) "There's more detail to the sale than that, you also have to purchase these other items to...." Her: (cutting me off) "I don't care about any of that and don't want it, I just want the Woo for $99.99!" Me: "I'm afraid I can't do that. The entire detail of the sale was in the email and all the advertising." Her: "I just told you I don't care about all that. The email said the Woo was $99.99 and you need to sell it to me like that."
    via u/SushiThief
  • 08
    Me: "I'm sorry, but that's not how the sale works." Her: "Then that's false advertising. YOU are false advertising." Me: "It's not false advertising. All the detail is there in black and white." Her: "Not it's not! It's false advertising, and I want to see a manager!" This of course, was not the last time I had to call a manager over that day to deal with someone who starting whining about false advertising. My manager did set her straight though, and of course she didn't get a $99 Woo.
    via u/SushiThief
  • 09
    That sale was only 3 days long, but it was absolutely miserable. I got called names by ride customers, got bitched at, and told myself I'd quit on the spot if they ever did another advertisement like that again. Yes, there was an occasional parent who thought it was a good deal, but mostly it was just people who didn't know how to read.
    via u/SushiThief
  • 10
    Also, for those of you about to come in and say "Well, I'd just buy the bundle and return all the other stuff, then keep my $99 Woo", you can't do that. Anything sold as a bundle/deal in my Toybox store also had to be returned as a bundle to keep people from doing just that.
    via u/SushiThief
  • 11
    shaodyn It wasn't so much people who can't read as people who refused to. Also, it amazes me how many adults think they can force the universe to bend to their will by loudly announcing their desires and ignoring all qualifications. Do you suppose they ever do that with other things and get mad that natural forces refuse to listen to them? "My house was on
    via u/SushiThief
  • 12
    fire and it refused to stop being on fire no matter how often I told it to! I finally had to call the fire department to make it listen! I have never been so outraged in my entire life!"
    via u/SushiThief
  • 13
    chosenamewhendrunk YOU are false advertising. I love it when people blame the minimum wage employee with absolutely no control over the situation whatsoever, it makes it easier to identify that person as an idiot.
    via u/SushiThief
  • 14
    BlueJoshi oh my god is that why i got all that weird stuff the same year my mom bought her wii
    via u/SushiThief
  • 15
    SSS_Tempest Had to deal with a similar deal myself both last year and earlier in the month. Nothing as big as the system (just a free turkey for Thanksgiving), but nobody reads the fine print and even if they do, the way to get said turkey was through the store website and the amount of tech illiterate people, in the year 2023, is almost laughable.
    via u/SushiThief
  • 16
    SushiThief OP I feel ya there. But I suppose it also depends, because apps can be terrible when you're trying to do a deal through them.
    via u/SushiThief
  • 17
    cold_french_fry At that point a manager should have been assigned to do nothing but stand directly next to the checkout specifically to deal with all the Karens that would inevitably be demanding to speak to them all day.
    via u/SushiThief
  • 18
    I understand why advertisements are made the way they are, but it's always infuriating having to deal with customers who can't be bothered to read the rest of it. Even if the "fine print" is only one or two more sentences, they'll still blame you for tricking them.
    via u/SushiThief
  • 19
    not a robot lemoinem You're bearing none of the responsibility, but it IS misleading advertising. Sure, not false advertising, thanks to a technicality. But it is purposefully designed to draw people in with an offer that's too good to be true. That's predatory and the idiots who keep setting up this kind of advertising should be the ones dealing with the Karens.
    via u/SushiThief

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

karens cash register boss workplace-stories jobs job retail shopping bosses retail worker work coworkers demanding working cashier karens in the wild workplace entitled karen story karen entitled people shoppers
Scroll Down For The Next Article