At subway near me, if you buy 6 foot-long sandwiches, then you get one free.
They have a terrible computer system that only works when it wants to, so when it doesn't want to work, you save your receipts.
I had 6 sandwiches total: 3 on the computerized scanned tag, and 3 separate receipts. I felt so bad for the girl behind the counter, who was a very nice person, but would've gotten herself into trouble.... I specifically said if she didn't feel comfortable with it, I could just come back another day when the managers (who know the computer screws people over a lot) are there. I ended up doing that so she didn't get screwed without even knowing it.
What normally happens and what I wanted her to do: scan the 3 receipts into the machine so I get credit for 6 prior purchases and rewarded with 1 free one.
What she wanted to do: just give it to me and take the receipts. Very good natured and trusting of her, so somebody's gonna take advantage of that....
Here, specifically is the problem: that wouldn't have erased the 3 from the scanner tag thingy, therefore effectively crediting me with 9 prior sandwiches instead of 6.... That would've been halfway to another free sandwich or like giving me half of a free footlong. Simply, I was trying to prevent undue credit to me from the restaurant, because there are a lot of jerks in the world who would totally screw that kid over. Yes, people trust me, but they trust me because I'm trustworthy and never take advantage of shit like that.... I ain't tryin to get anybody fired for anything, and I won't take the chance it'll hurt her, even if it means half a free footlong for me.
I made sure to repeatedly tell her it was ok and not her fault. That way I'd just get rung up and credit for another sub, total 7 and redeem the reward next time. She started getting all worried and expressly told me she didn't understand me. [sigh].
Point simply was this:I didn't want her to get in trouble for accidentally giving me credit for purchasing 3 sandwiches I hadn't and therefore half of a free footlong. She really didn't know and I cant totally see people being jerks about it and taking advantage of the poor thing. [sigh].
What's really weird, I felt like I just couldn't communicate with this girl, at all. It was just strange. Her thought process was as follows: if I just give this person what they want, then everything will be ok.... She wasn't concerned with the details. She wasn't mean, or trying to screw anyone, or anything bad at all. Rather, she simply didn't know or want to know about doing things right. She couldn't comprehend why this mattered to me. This is contained in the statement, "I was just gonna give it to you free." It never occurred to her that she could be questioned about this, or that she should cover her ass by doing it right. It never occurred to her to listen to the simple math I was saying, but rather, she was just about making it as simple as possible: the result.
She had good intentions, and that is the paving material for roads to Hell. This is an all too common thing today and it's innocently dangerous as all hell, not to me, but to her and those like her. She also got somewhat frightened when I did anything but agree with her, as if the idea of anyone turning down free food was just completely and utterly odd and a little scary.
I couldn't have made it easier, I've got 6 prior footlongs and that means 1 free one. Only issue is 3 are on the computer scan tag thing, and 3 are in receipts in my hand. Scan the receipts onto the computer, and we're golden, because then you'd have 6 on the computer which would = one free one as recorded in the machine. Everything accounted for and CYA. Would she have gotten in trouble for this? Maybe, and maybe not, but I don't wanna take that chance.
Computers suck sometimes. Communication is oddly weird.