Subtle complaints really work

As you know my new love is coupons. Almost every week since December I have been going to my local Walgreens to get all the good deals - using coupons of course. But my nemesis lives there. Well, she's not really my nemesis and I guess she doesn't really live there although it seems like she does. You see, she's a cashier there and she is there ALL the time. I've tried going in at night, in the afternoon, in the morning, on the weekends...and she is ALWAYS there. She is an older lady who apparently takes a lot of pride in her store. So much so that she questions EVERY SINGLE coupon I use. As if it were her own money involved.  I know I am using these coupons legally and ethically but her attitude is that I am trying to sneak something by her or see what I can convince her to do.

Today was the last straw!!  I had a BOGO coupon for a Tresemme product (BOGO is buy one get one free, by the way) as well as a $2 off coupon.  All good couponers know that if you buy 2 products, you can use both of these coupons.  You use the $2 off one on the product you are not getting for free.  Well, apparently my nemesis must not be one of those good couponers, because she did not know this.  She, politely (at first) informed me that I couldn't use them both.  I, politely as well, told her that this was a legal transaction and could she please just try scanning the coupon to see if the computer would take it.  She, not so nicely this time, told me that "no" she could not do that because I could not use 2 coupons on that if one was a BOGO.  I, once again as politely as I could muster at this point, asked her to please scan the coupon.  Reluctantly, she did, although she was very obviously angry at me at this point.  And, lo and behold, that coupon scanned with no beeps.  She informed me that she would be contacting a member of management about that later.  I said that would be perfectly fine with me.

I would like to say that I came home and forgot the incident, but I didn't.  I came home and decided I would find Walgreens corporate coupon policy to have on hand the next time I needed it.  So I searched and I searched all over the web and couldn't find it.  What I did find was a "contact us" button.  So I clicked it.  There was a spot for complaints so I left one.  I was very polite and said that I had problems with a coupon and could Walgreens please send me their official coupon policy.  I was expecting an email with a coupon policy attached.  And I expected never to set foot in that particular store again.  What I got instead was a phone call this evening from my local store manager (only 5 hours after my visit to the store and about 3 hours after my website visit).  I explained the situation to him, he vindicated me (woohoo) and said he would have a meeting with all his employees to review the coupon policy.  It was a nice conversation and I was thoroughly impressed that he took the time to call me and find out what happened.  He encouraged me to ask for a manager while I am in the store next time so they can resolve it at the time it happens.  He also thanked me for bringing this to his attention because management doesn't know about these things unless someone tells them. 

Now Walgreens is back on the top of my list and I will be visiting that store again.  However, I will still try as hard as I can to find a different cashier to check me out. :)