The beginning of July I stopped in the library to pick up my 4th reward, the free slice of pizza. The staff person accessed my account and told me I had also earned another reward. I told her I would probably not use the coupon at the bookstore. She then said I could have a second pizza coupon as a substitute! What a deal! Two pizza coupons.
I then headed to to a grocery store where I had another coupon to use. I had to "earn" this coupon by purchasing the product and entering the information in an online account. I worked diligently to purchase the correct number of items before the promotion ended. I then was able to print out a coupon.
I was at a self-service register at Walmart, and for some reason, the coupon scanned "expired." The clerk didn't know what to do and had to ask someone from customer service to come over. That took way longer than it should have -- she kept getting waylaid while on her course to my checkout. She didn't know what to do either. So she just removed one of the products from my transaction and made it look like I had only purchased one meal instead of the two that were in my bag. Meanwhile, the associate put the coupon in the slot, but it did not drop through. So I retrieved it and left.
When I exited I thought "this better not ding as a shop-lifted item." I got away safely. It seemed obvious to me what the employee should have done: She should have manually deducted the coupon amount. I've seen register clerks do this many times over the years. You can see on the face of the coupon that there is a place to write the amount.
A couple days later I went to another store and purchased the items. Again, the coupon scanned expired. But this time, the clerk did an override and entered the amount manually. Just like I thought should have been done at Walmart. And I went home happy.
