Supermarket worker offering her discount

[Belledan1]

Went to major supermarket. Realised had left card at home. Luckily DH had cash. Tried to add up as went along as only a top up shop. Realised near the end of the shopping going through it would go over so we said can we not put something through. The cashier said I will put my discount card on if you want so can get it. I said don't worry but thanks. She was really young and a friendly girl and thought dont went to get her into trouble and did not need it financially anyway. Is this a new thing to help people out and I wonder how many people will take advantage that don't need it.

They can't!

But please do tell who you think does!

Yes we can!

I have and do give out discretionary discounts on a daily basis! It's literally part of my job to do so!

Do I give the discounts to just anyone? No, but if you're a lovely regular who is a couple of quid short or there's a young mum counting her last few pennies then I will apply the discount to your total.

@melj1213

They can't!

But please do tell who you think does!

Yes we can!

I have and do give out discretionary discounts on a daily basis! It's literally part of my job to do so!

Do I give the discounts to just anyone? No, but if you're a lovely regular who is a couple of quid short or there's a young mum counting her last few pennies then I will apply the discount to your total.

Please tell us which shop?

@surreygirl1987

I used to do that for a friend sometimes. I was a uni student and I couldn't have cared less if I lost my job!

Why work in the first place then?

@girlmom21

It was lovely of her to offer and I don't know why people are being so miserable about it.

Colleagues daughter lost her job for doing this! She gave her card to friend…instant dismissal in her case!

@Sparklingbrook

I don't doubt that some stores might give discretionary discounts, but to me it seems very unlikely they would be routinely given by the member of staff swiping their personal discount card at the till.

You don't know that it is a personal discount card though. Just because the girl said "I can put my discount on" that doesn't mean she was referring to a personal discount specifically, it could be "the discount I'm allowed to give due to my job role".

Where I work if you have the authority to give discounts there is a card we can swipe to apply a standard 5% or 10% discount. At the start of my shift I sign it out, at the end of my shift I sign it back in and we have to keep it on us at all times so that it doesn't go missing/used unauthorised. Any other discount is done through the tills either by applying a gift card or cashing out the remaining balance and then putting those transactions into our goodwill system.

If someone came up and was a little short but it could be covered by the 5/10% discount then I would take out the card, swipe it, authorise the discount on the till and put the card back. I usually explain what I'm doing but I am sure in the past I have just said something like "I have a discount to take care of that extra" or "Don't worry, I can use my discount for that" or "I've applied my discount so that's taken 5/10% off for you so the new total is £Xx"

'my discount' implies it's their discount.

However unless the OP adds any more detail we'll never know so I'm not sure it's worth debating this much further TBH. It's fast becoming a 'you had to be there' type situation.

Please tell us which shop?

I have already specified that it is a major supermarket but why does it matter which specific one it is?

I have told you that I am allowed to give discretionary discounts as part of my job in the customer service team, why are you so unwilling to accept that I have that authority unless you specifically know exactly where I work (which I do not wish to put onto a public forum)?

Going back a bit now but I used to work in Morrisons, but back when it was Safeway.

We had a discount card. One other family member was allowed to use it so I gave it to my mum. They were v strict about that.

A lot of young people from the local schools worked there. There was a lot of naivety and I can’t tell you how many kids were sacked for doing stuff like that. They thought they were helping and didn’t really see at the time that it could have consequences for them.

Life lessons indeed.