The guy and the layaway receipt

There is this one man who always come in when the store is incredibly busy. I think he might work with disadvantaged kids, because he is African-American and he always has a pack of multi-racial kids with him. That, or he has adopted a couple.

He never has a straight up return with a receipt either. It is always something with a problem. He is running some sort of game, I just haven't figured it out yet.

Two months ago, he bought one of those big plastic kid pools. He used it for the party, then brought it back, without the receipt. Some idiot manager gave him a couple hundred dollars in store credit for that one.

Last month, he tried to return a pair of two-month old pre-paid cell phones. He had the receipt for those, but it was two months old. Those things have a 15-day return policy. I told him he couldn't return them. He told me he used to work for Wal-Mart. I don't care if you work for Jesus. I'm not giving you money back on them. And you don't work for Wal-Mart right now - and you're not my manager - so please refrain from telling me how to DO MY JOB!

Last week, he rolled in with six DVDs that he wanted to return. No receipt. He uses his military ID. Yeah. Because I know he has used his drivers license the three times. Then he tries to tell me how to punch it in so as not to bust him for using the military ID three times. Please shut up.

Sunday, he rolls in with a set of speakers. Again, no receipt. He has a layaway receipt from where he made a $15 payment. I tell him that he can't return them using that receipt because all that receipt show is that he made a payment on the account.

Boy, he goes ballistic. I'm sure he thinks I'm a hardcase. Well, I think he's running game, so we're even. He goes "well, can't you look up the account and see that we paid it off?"

I tell him "Yes, but you still don't have the receipt. You can get a store credit for the speakers, or you can take it back home and look for the receipt."

He tries again. "I don't see where it matters if we paid off the layaway. I have a receipt." I tell him "No, you don't have the receipt where you PAID OFF the layaway. All you're giving me is a receipt from where you made a $15 payment. It doesn't matter that you paid off the layaway, you still don't have the receipt for the item."

He gets real mad once he realizes that I'm not going to fold. He tells the kids "You stay right there" and he goes out in the car to look. About 20 minutes later he comes back with a manager. The manager tells me to go ahead and do the return, because he did pay off the layaway."

I tell him "Fine, but he still doesn't have the layaway receipt." And I show him the reciept the guy gave me. Right on the bottom it says RECEIPT REFUND VALUE: $0.00.

The manager goes "Do it as a refund without a receipt. But give him cash." Which is exactly what I told the idiot 20 minutes ago. At least I had the manager's personal override numbers on that transaction.

When I punch in that same military ID one more time, it comes up as his SECOND return without a receipt. So now he has two. One more time and I can put a stop to this mess.