This forum seemed to be the most relevant place to ask this. I live in Nebraska, but I think this is more of a national legal issue.
I was working at a store, a year or so back when this happened, late at night when a customer came in trying to use one of those old "Free Bag of Doritos" coupons. I was informed by my management that we were supposed to attempt to confiscate counterfeit coupons, write VOID in large letters across the coupon, and tear the coupon through the barcode before throwing it away, if a customer ever attempted to use one. I had never had problems with customers handing them over before, but this customer was different.
Right off the bat when I asked him for it, he claimed he was a police officer and that I didn't have the right to confiscate anything from him at all. Since our store didn't have specific policies on what to do when a customer refused to hand over a counterfeit coupon, I merely refused to complete his order and he left. Later on, another employee told me that I should have told him, "Then you should know that it is a federal offense to knowingly be in possession of a counterfeit coupon." She told me that possessing a counterfeit coupon is essentially equivalent to possessing a counterfeit dollar bill.
- So first off, is this true?
- Second, do we have any responsibility for removing counterfeit coupons from the possession of a customer when it is presented?
- Should we call authorities if they refuse?
- Did I do the right thing by simply refusing to complete his order since he refused to comply with our store policy?
I was working at a store, a year or so back when this happened, late at night when a customer came in trying to use one of those old "Free Bag of Doritos" coupons. I was informed by my management that we were supposed to attempt to confiscate counterfeit coupons, write VOID in large letters across the coupon, and tear the coupon through the barcode before throwing it away, if a customer ever attempted to use one. I had never had problems with customers handing them over before, but this customer was different.
Right off the bat when I asked him for it, he claimed he was a police officer and that I didn't have the right to confiscate anything from him at all. Since our store didn't have specific policies on what to do when a customer refused to hand over a counterfeit coupon, I merely refused to complete his order and he left. Later on, another employee told me that I should have told him, "Then you should know that it is a federal offense to knowingly be in possession of a counterfeit coupon." She told me that possessing a counterfeit coupon is essentially equivalent to possessing a counterfeit dollar bill.
- So first off, is this true?
- Second, do we have any responsibility for removing counterfeit coupons from the possession of a customer when it is presented?
- Should we call authorities if they refuse?
- Did I do the right thing by simply refusing to complete his order since he refused to comply with our store policy?