Firkin' backwards.

I received a response from a general manager in regards to my taxation woes at The Falcon & Firkin... and it's kind of weird.

She was very polite and to the point, which I do appreciate. And she also apologized for the inconvenience. However, she indicated that she went "straight to the sources" on the matter... and didn't explain what those sources were.

Then, she explained that the coupon booklet indicated that "discounts exclude tax, tip and/or alcohol". I'm looking at the book. It doesn't say that anywhere in the book, nor on the coupon itself. In addition to that, she explained the situation as follows:

"The rules of discounts, and this may seem silly, are that if there is a coupon where it works in the way of "buy one, get one free" the tax for the free meal will still be charged to the customer. If were a coupon where you were to receive for example: 50 % off or $10.00 off, then the taxes would be adjusted accordingly."

Aside from the slightly broken english... are you insane? Am I to understand that if a store offers you a $10-off coupon, that they won't charge tax on the $10 portion of your product before discount? Last time I checked, that $10 acted as a cash discount applied to your total after taxes (read: treated like cash). Not only that, but a percentage discount is taxed after the discount is applied, and a cash discount is taxed before the discount is applied - so why compare these two types of discounts together in the same thought?

I thought I was confused, so I checked again. Lo and behold, I'm not insane. A "buy one, get one free" offer is NOT taxed on the value of both products.

So, I've replied, explaining how the coupon booklet has no information whatsoever about excluding tax, and asking her to clarify my understanding of the sales tax. It's possible that she's simply mistaken, which is perfectly human. Further to this, I think I'm calling the Retail Sales Tax Branch in Oshawa, because one of two things is happening. Either

1) They're charging too much tax, and giving too much to the government, or
2) They're charging too much tax, yet remitting the proper amount of tax to the government.

In the second scenario, someone's pockets are getting large.

Of course, she was very cordial with her closing:

" I would like to thank you for your imput, and again like to apologize for the inconvience. I hope to see you in the future."

Even with all that imput, i still feel pretty inconvience'd.