Like clockwork, Christmas seems to all of a sudden bring about cash registers that haven't been updated with sales prices. I had the same kind of trouble last year at about the same time. Today, I was out picking up a few last minute items and my wife and daughter went out as well but in a different direction. We met up for lunch at the local mall and went to Boscov's together. We looked in their Christmas department as my wife is looking to update some of our Christmas decorations. Everything was on sale. There was a big sign out front with an assortment of penguins and polar bears that stated all plush animals were 75% off. The penguins were awesome. They were all wearing ski hats, earmuffs and are well made of soft fabric on wire frames. We decided to buy a big, medium and small one. They were priced at $39.99, $19.99 and $9.99. We also picked up a metal art Christmas Tree with dangling jingle bells in a 60% off area for $9.99. We headed up to the counter where a manager was hanging out giving instructions to a clerk. He told her to do something and he would handle us....splendid. He rang up the tree and said "ok, that comes to $8..." I cut him off and told him it was $4. He told me it was 60% off and I agreed....that 40% of $9.99 was $4! He told me ever so politely that the item was $19.99, not $9.99. I showed him the price tag which clearly read $9.99. He apologized for the item ringing up incorrectly and said the program needed to be updated. Yup. You bet it does, Skippy. He takes the largest penguin and rings it and tells me it's $20. Nope. Sorry. Errrrnt. Wrong Answer. He said it was ringing at 50% off. I told him it was 75% off. He asked me where I got it that he had to go check the sign. Insert my famous loud "Sigh" here as I pointed it out to him. My daughter asked me what was going on and I explained to her that the store didn't update their software to match the merchandise on purpose and they were hoping that people weren't paying attention, or better yet, were too intimidated to question what they were told. I got a few chuckles from the people behind me. He came back, apologized again and corrected the large penguin. He was handing them off to the clerk who was now back to wrap and put in a bag. When he rang the medium one, he said "Ok, that's $5 off of that one"......Oh.....My.....Gawd. I told him $5 should be the price, not the percentage off. He thought about it a second and agreed and told me that he just said it wrong...it was a long day. You think? He got the little penguin perfect, but to be fair, he had some practice before he got to that one. I paid and then my daughter was buying a small nutcracker which he also got right. As we turned to walk away he said "is this your penguin?". The woman bagged the tree and the first two penguins but not the third one. He was so embarrassed - and with good reason! I'm not asking for perfection. I know it's the Holiday Season and they have new help at the registers. But for Grinch's sake, more things went wrong than right for us in a span of 5 minutes. I was kidding around somewhat about the pricing, but you have to wonder. Innumeracy is everywhere and I know it's more prevalent than illiteracy. Read the book or buy it for someone you know who that needs it! I'll lend you mine, I read it a long time ago as it's a good read for a math major.
2 comments:
We go through this every year and I say "caveat emptor" let the buyer beware.
PLUs (Price Look Ups)are not the easiest thing to keep synchronized when merchandising management is throwing curveballs and screwballs at the IT department at a breakneck pace during Christmas. $5 off this, 50% off that etc.
What these knucklehead merchandisers do is think ahead to have signage prepared for markdowns but have no forewarning to have the correct prices loaded into the PLU files.
But you explain perfectly why this is not a priority for them. In the heat of the battle of holiday shopping, rare is the customer like Still A. Fan who notices that the 50% off isn't being rung at the register. Straight to the bottom line, baby!
In the bigger context, how can we overcome innumeracy when we can't overcome illiteracy? If you teach in English and the student only understands Spanish it's kinda hard to teach them arithmetic. Comprendez-vous?
Just came out of an Italian restaurant where the mailwoman greeted and discussed the incoming and outgoing mail with a restaurant employee conversing only in Spanish! In the California Republic, I understand. In one of the original 13 colonies I don't get it.
Hey, Merry Christmas to everyone!
si, buyer beware. in a perfect world, we'd just get the correct total. i dont like my own job, why do i want to do someone else's as well!
merry christmas
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