Stores have removed winter clothes from their floors, but I know one particular store that has out-of-season clothes left unsold at great discount prices.

I went there and bingo! I found a nice down jacket at half price. I paid with my credit card and to get more discounts, with a $5 gift certificate, a 5% off coupon, and a 2-cent discount for bringing my bag instead of using their plastic bag. As you can see, it’s confusing, and the salesperson made a mistake on the total charge. I pointed it out but he didn’t know how to fix it.

He called another salesperson for help. He explained all the discounts showing the incorrect receipt to her. They read aloud the receipts together for whatever the reason was, and just gazed somewhere vacantly. It seemed that they thought doing just that would make the problem disappear. After a few more readings and gazing, they called one more person for help. She repeated exactly what had already happened and in dismay, they started looking for something all around the counter. Finally, they came to their senses and began to enter digits on the cash register. They cancelled the former total and charged the correct one. It took a long time and three people to do that. This kind of thing happens to me all the time because I always try to get a maximum discount by every conceivable means…

Episode From Surviving in Japan by Hidemi Woods