More Gift Card Etiquette

[Asharah]

I think I may be a poster child for giftcard etiquette hell! The Board of Directors at my company gifted us with $50 giftcards for G**** grocery store. No offense, but I never go to G****, largely cause my Mom and brother do the grocery runs and even if I run out on my lunch hour for something, S**** is closer and I have a discount card. Doesn't it seem a bit strange they would pick a gift card for a grocery where the nearest one is a few minutes drive from the place of business while we have two other groceries that are walking distance from our building?  So I went over to G****, and like most grocery stores, they have a large display of gift cards for other stores. So I ask the cashier if I can use my G**** gift card to buy another gift card. She says okay and proceeds to do the transaction. Well about 10 seconds after the transaction is done the supervisor shows up and says I'm not allowed to do that. However, the transaction has already gone through. Apparently, the computer wasn't programmed to reject using a G**** gift card to buy a giftcard for another establishment, nor was the cashier informed that she wasn't supposed to allow it. Since the transaction was already complete and the new gift card activated, she let me keep the new gift card, all the while muttering about how mad her supervisor was gonna be. So is this all my fault? Is it so hard to inform the cashiers in advance that this kind of transaction wasn't allowed? Maybe I'm biased cause I used to be a bank teller and my last manager more than once failed to inform me after making a policy decision that made a difference in the way I was supposed to do the job, until after I made a mistake in front of the customer! So, what do you think?

[Chocolate Cake]

The problem lies in that this situation probably has not come up before and the cashier didn't think to ask her manager ahead of time.  Too bad for her, but it's not your fault in the least.

[Barghest1031]

I can't say much about whether or not it was rude of the company to get gift cards to a certain store, but I can say that on the back of most gift cards I recieve the fine print actually says that it can't be used to purchase another gift card. I would think however that a store would include that bit of knowledge in their training program when they hire new people on though.

[Katharine]

I don't think you did anything wrong. I think the manager was rude for muttering about it.

[Metalchick42]

Its not your fault.   Management should have more thoroughly trained the cashier on the proper use of gift cards.  The cashier was in the wrong for muttering that the supervisor will be upset.  Either way, if you purchased a new gift card, or purchase merchandise, the store already has the $50.

[Asharah]

Its not your fault.   Management should have more thoroughly trained the cashier on the proper use of gift cards.  The cashier was in the wrong for muttering that the supervisor will be upset.  Either way, if you purchased a new gift card, or purchase merchandise, the store already has the $50.

Actually it was the supervisor muttering not the cashier. I suppose she was referring to the store manager getting mad at her. But I wonder if a store manager would even notice the one transaction if she didn't mention it.
And if it's too much bother to inform the cashier, I think there has to be some way they could have had something in the computer system to block the transaction from going through, which they obviously didn't.

[Metalchick42]

Thanks for clearing that up.  A block in the computer is the perfect solution.  Its suprising that there isn't one already, if its a large chain.  It might have been the first transaction of its kind for the cashier, but probably not for the entire company.

[MrsP81]

I wouldn't worry about it. It isn't your fault that the cashier wasn't informed about that. The manager will get over it.

[twinkletoes]

I wouldn't worry about it, either.  I think if anything, the supervisor was rude for muttering about it.  Surely there is some sort of protocal in place for transactions of that kind?  I'm also surprised the store's computer didn't automatically block the transaction when you used the gift card.