Curmudgeondy

Recently I bought toner for my printer, installed it, and, 3 days later, it was low on ink (buy HP not the Office Depot brand).

I took it back to the store with a sample of the poor printing and the original receipt. The return had to be authorized by a manager. I got an HP toner cartridge which cost $11.00 more - the start of my slide to curmudgeondy.

The young lady at the cash register scanned the old and new boxe labels and advised that I owed an additional $15.34 (the screen did show that total - $11.00 plus $4.34 in tax). Since the price differential was $11.00 and sales tax in DeKalb County, Ga. is 7%, I told her that I owed $11.77. She looked at me blankly. I gave it another shot. The old toner was $54.99. The new toner is $65.99. The difference is $11.00. Tax is 7%, hence (no I did not use that word) I owe you $11.00 plus $.77 in tax or $11.77. More blankness; but, I made progress as she called over another manager.

The manager was 40ish (so this does not constitute a diatribe against just today's youth). She looked at the screen and confirmed that I owed another $15.34. It only took one explanation for her to understand that the tax on $11.00 was not $4.34. She then, practically, reduced the price by $2.00 and announced that I owed $13.34, the new difference of $9.00 plus that $4.34 in tax that the pesky cash register still insisted that I owed (now I rail against the machine). I repeated my calculations. She returned to the register and announced that I owed $11.34 (she reduced the $9.00 to $7.00. The machine still got its $4.34 in tax). I thought about insisting that I owed $11.77 but thought better of it. I told her she had a deal and gave her the money.

I am not a victor in this exchange. I now have my toner, paid $.43 too little tax, BUT, I have a receipt that says I returned the $54.99 toner and paid them $11.34 for the new toner. So much for my chances in a tax audit (will this contemporaneous document help me with convincing the examiner?)