It’s amazing how a promotion can turn against you. Earlier this year, I went to a home decor store to purchase a gift for my soon-to-be wife. I chose what I wanted, and realized that, lucky for me, it was on sale! Every item was 25% off. However, when I went the cashier, the discount didn’t ring through:

“Aren’t these items on sale?”

“No, I don’t think so”

“But the sign said they are”

“Oh. Right… only one item can be discounted”

“Huh?”

“It’s a discount for only the first item”

“That’s interesting. The sign didn’t mention that at all.”

“Well, this is actually supposed to be a flyer-only sale, and we’re just providing this discount as a service to our customers.”

“I see. (Not really, as it didn’t explain the false advertising). How about I purchase this item, and then the other one, one at a time?”

“You can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I know you now and won’t let you”

By then, she was getting argumentative, and a shade shy of down right rude. At that point I gave in a took a discount off the larger ticket item, but I found it quite ironic that they managed to irritate me by discounting an item and “providing a service”.