Boss puts retail employee on probation because they aren't comfortable shilling credit cards: 'He said I needed to be asking 2-3 times per interaction'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Oct 10, 2026 9:45 AM EDT

Working a retail job is all about sales, but customers dread a pushy salesperson. 

If you've ever shopped retail, then you know all about the credit card pitch. It's that moment at the beginning of the transaction at the cashier when they ask you if you'd like to open a credit card with the store. Maybe they're offering some sort of deal, or maybe they just give you the option. Either way you're probably not going to take them up on it. That is if you're anything like me. It's not generally a great idea to make snap decisions about what credit card you're going to sign up for, and if you catch me in a moment where I'm going to make that decision it's probably not worth it. But I understand that the store employees are required to ask you. But there's a right way in the wrong way to go about this. Everybody response to different sales techniques, and every sales person has a different approach to hitting the pitch, but nobody should be forced to do something outside of their comfort zone just for the sake of the bottom line. 

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    A cashier handles cash at the register
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Actor performance of story events.


    A cashier handles cash at the register

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    Put on probation at work because I won't shill credit cards...

    I work at a big box retailer, and I actually don't hate my job. I really love my coworkers and I have regular customers who remember my name and ask me about how my University studies are going. The job has helped me get out of my shell and get more comfortable with interacting with strangers, which I think will help me a lot in the long run. A month ago I even got my observation and was meeting requirements so I got a raise!
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    Then came last shift, where I was pulled into an office by my ASM and told that I wasn't doing enough in regards to our store credit card. I do prompt each customer with the credit card but if they aren't interested I don't pursue. Due to this I've only gotten two credit card
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    applications under my name since starting 8 months ago. My manager said that that puts me in "de d last" for my work area, language that he used because he said he wants to inspire a sense of competition between me and my coworkers. He showed how our store is performing low in terms of credit card sales and that I needed to
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    pull my weight better in that regard. He said I couldn't take one no for an answer and needed to be asking 2-3 times per interaction. He says he will be having a weekly meeting with me now to make sure I'm improving in this area.
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    I left that meeting feeling pretty defeated and for the first time since starting there I'm totally dreading going in to work. My morale has been totally shot. I don't want to compete with my coworkers cause I see us all as members of a team and I refuse to shove that stupid card down peoples throats by not taking their no for an answer. I won't be a predatory salespersons especially because I am a part cashier getting paid 30 cents more than minimum wage.
    via u/unnervingorphan2

  • Working retail is all about customer service. I've worked in retail and learned that I have a different approach to sales than some of my other teammates. The way my brain and personality work, I know I'm not good at the hard push. I'd rather let the customer come to their own conclusions and be helpful to them if they have any questions. Because that's the way I like to be treated as a customer. I like to walk into a store and be able to browse on my own without any guidance from anybody else. The second a salesperson tries to sell something to me, I feel pressured, and then I'm more likely to just walk out with nothing. I think a lot of people are like this. But that's not always the way that companies and managers instruct their salespeople to be. The manager in the story certainly had a different approach. Customers like to feel like they're making their own decisions, even if their hand is guided a little bit by the people in charge. Nobody wants to feel like they're falling for something. Nobody wants to feel like they've been duped into something that might take advantage of them in the long run, like a credit card. But that didn't stop this manager from wanting their employees to double down every time they asked about credit cards. But the employee in the story wasn't buying it. They were good at their job anyway, and they didn't want to lose face with the customers that they already had.


    Sometimes competition in the workplace is a good thing, and other times it drives people apart. It all depends on what kind of approach you have as an employee. If it were me, I would be discouraged by competition. I don't like feeling like I'm battling out for something against my coworkers. I like to feel like we're all of us together working towards a common goal. But everybody is motivated differently, and everyone has different relationships with competition. But the boss in the story was hammering a certain tactic that at least one coworker was deeply uncomfortable with. As a person who has worked in retail, the story resonates with me and my experience of that world. It's a very particular world, and we all have our own feelings about it. This story illustrates a big issue within that job. 

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    Commenters gave their opinions on this story.

    MxFC "Would you like to sign up for our credit card?" "No thanks!" "Are you sure?" "Yes, I'm sure." "Are you SURE you're sure?" "I've already told you twice | am not interested! Can I speak to a manager?"
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    A woman behind a cafe counter serves a customer
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

    A woman behind a cafe counter serves a customer

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    kyle1234513 ignore it. store credit cards only affect managers performance metrics, and in turn his bonus from corporate. hes doing classic carrot stick management style. carrot to chase + stick to fear.
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    SMA949 And then they wonder why people prefer to shop online. I despise the dreaded credit card sales push and even more when my first no is not taken as my answer. It me off to a point that it has made me stop shopping at certain places.
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    otakon33 Issue is, SOMEONE is gonna be de d last in these things. Always. No matter how persuasive you are.
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    eRant4881 "So are you saying that if a customer tells me no I am supposed to ignore it and try until they give in and say yes?" "Yep, that's what you've gotta do!" "So, you're saying consent shouldn't be respected? Is that store policy, or your policy?"
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    snapcracklepop26 "In order to meet my performance metrics, I must ask you three times if you would like to sign up for a credit card." "Want a card?"
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    "No" "How about now?" "No" "Have you changed your mind?" "No." "How is your day going?"
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    SuckerForNoir Robots Credit cards are (generally) evil and if I tell a cashier "no" twice and they try a third time I am leaving my purchases and walking out. I truly appreciate people like you who don't harass folks about it.
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    Fluffy_Town That's how you chase away customers. Though usually those who know what opening a credit card can do to a person's finances. Credit records are only a gauge for legal con artists to tell how much of a gullible. person you are towards their legit confidence games.
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    Just because it is legal, doesn't mean it is ethical. This is why the federal gov't had commissions and committees to deal with legal con artists, until the current administration came along and Fd it up.
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    Each time someone opens a credit card account, their credit gets hit. The more credit card you have open the more credit positives. you have, but putting money. on those accounts will cause problems. That's where they get you, if you cannot pay off your FULL amount every
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    month, you get dinged with fees and all sorts. Minimum payments will cause interest which is what credit card companies want. The more fees, the more cashback you take off your credit care, the more the companies get money off you for free.
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    This is why they want people to have credit cards and not cash, because if its out of sight, it's out of mind. Cash is always in your pocket, you cannot avoid it. But cards and accounts place money outside your range of consciousness and your brain can avoid the problem. Which is what credit card companies and banks want. More money from you.
    via u/unnervingorphan2
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    Divorce people from their money, and their money can be parted more easily. The motto of con artists everywhere. "A fool and their money are soon parted" isn't a saying for nothing.
    via u/unnervingorphan2

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boss antiwork workplace-stories toxic-workplace job bosses work coworkers working toxic-boss workplace bad bosses toxic-work-environment
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