I’m a courteous couponer.
I shop at non-peak times. I have all my coupons organized and ready for the cashier. I place the free items at the end of my order so the prices are easy to locate on the receipt. I regularly check the expiration date on all my coupons. I even let people know when they get in line after me that I have coupons.
Yet, The Coupon Stink Eye (a great post by my good friend Cheapo McFrugalpants, who I have discussed Coupon Stink Eye with at length) still exists. I’ve had people audibly sigh. I’ve had people stare me down. I’ve had people angrily throw their items back into their cart and change lanes.
99% of the time, I smile, politely apologize for the holdup, and thank them for their patience.
Except for when people mumble. Mumbling is so cowardly. I can’t respect mumblers and I had my fill last week.
“Mumble mumble COUPONS mumble mumble WASTING MY TIME mumble mumble ALL THIS FOR A FEW CENTS.”
I whipped around and said “Deal with it. I’m unemployed.”
When my transaction was complete I added “$29.30 seems like more than a few cents to me!”
And then I scuttered out of the grocery store as quickly as possible.
These people are obviously few and far between, but frustrating none-the-less. I’ve had other shoppers interested to see how much I’ve saved, I’ve had cashiers applaud, and I’ve had managers ask me how I do it (and I’m not even that good at it).
Coupons are a perfectly legitimate way to save money and I will not be shamed into stuffing them back into my purse for the benefit of the next person in line. I wait for people to write checks, return items, and chit-chat with the cashier, they can wait for me to save a little bit of money.
Have you ever encountered Coupon Stink Eye? Share your stories!
You know, I’ve heard of this quite a few times, but I have never experienced it! Granted, I’m a terrible couponer, so I usually only have 5 or 6 coupons. But I grew up with my mom who was a coupon queen, she could regularly save more than $200 on groceries (I should’ve paid more attention, apparently) but I don’t ever recall hearing people grumbling. Maybe they’re just quiet stink-eye givers around here.
Appears that Coupon Stink Eye is traveling across the country – Indiana and now, Austin. People are just not patient anymore – it’s sad.
Glad to hear it’s not stopping ya!
Maybe I’m just too busy making sure I’ve got all my coupons ready to notice – but really, I’ve never noticed this. I always use coupons and would never consider skipping them just to make someone happy. I do need to do a better job of keeping the free stuff separate, though. I always seem to forget something.
In this economy, you’d think non-couponers would be asking those who do use coupons for some advice instead of being rude. But then maybe they’re just upset that they’re not saving money. Maybe?
.-= Anna´s last blog ..How Often Do You Change Your Sheets? =-.
Jenn – These people are rare, but they burn me up every time.
And your mom should totally be teaching couponing classes.
Anna – I agree! I’m always amazed when I see someone rack up the savings with their coupons.
I see cashiers frustrated more than anyone else. I even had a chaier in another aisle get involved in my transaction recently, after the manager had already stepped in and told my cashier that I was correct in my coupon usage. The other cashier told me that Walmrt didn’t allow free items. I whipped out the Walmart coupon policy and quoted from it. She did this while she was ringing up another customer in her lane!
I apologized to the woman behind me, who said she had her own coupons
The woman behind that had no problem with me either, she said.
Last time I stood in a different aisle. I took the peelie coupons off my three items and handed them to the cahsier. He sighed and was annoyed with me. It was like, why do you have to use ALL THREE of these coupons?
And then there are the cashiers who inist the item isn’t the same as in the picture but can’t read what the coupon is good for (ALL of ____ item) and not just the one variety on the photo.
I rarely have more than 5 coupons, but I sure get a lot of attitude from the cashiers!
The Prudent Homemaker – I was reading the policy for a local grocery store that I’ve never been to before and they don’t accept coupons that reduce the price of an item by more than 50%.
I had a cashier roll her eyes at me one of the very first time I ever used coupons seriously and I couldn’t bite my tongue and asked her if my coupons were a problem because I believe authorizing their usage is part of her job description. LOL