Retail Wednesday Thursday Edition

Oops. Meant to post this yesterday, but I forgot. I was so busy doing important stuff like cleaning and making a flier for my Dad and watching Firefly and voting for So You Think You Can Dance (which, btw, was aMAzing and can I just say that Cat Deeley is adorable and should totally get an Emmy for host!) and I forgot!

So, no Cover Love Thursday this week, because I've got some good stories. Oh man, the crazies were out in force this last week!

So on to the Awards!

Close but No Cigar Award:


A woman came up to the information desk and asked for the book Snow Storm and the Revolving Fan.
Me: Do you mean Snow Flower and ...
Woman: (cutting me off) Oh, yeah. Snow Flower and the Revolving Fan.
Me: It's actually the Secret Fan.
Woman: I don't know. The book by Lisa See.
Me: (find her the book and try not to laugh at the image her book title has provided)

Book Titles That Make Me Laugh Award:


A teenage girl asked me for this book... which happens to be in our etiquette section.

Phone Freak Award:


I answer the phone.
Lady: Hi, I was in your store about an hour ago to buy this book. I bought it because this church is bringing in a special speaker to talk about it at the end of July and I wanted to read it before then. So I called this morning and talked to Christine and they couldn't find the book, so she checked with the manager and then they found it and put it on the side for me. I came in and bought it and the girl at the register tried to give me something for the store. Some kind of card or something. But I don't have a computer and they needed an e-mail so I couldn't get it.
Me: Okay. (what is your point and btw, there is no Christine here and no one even has a similar name)
Lady: Well, I have a flier here from the church and it says that the book is available at Borders book store and it has your address and phone number and then it says that the book is $11.99, but when I bought the book, my receipt says $14.99. I thought it was strange when I bought it, but I didn't say anything, but when I got home I saw that this paper does say that it's available at Borders for $11.99.
Me: The price of the book is $14.99. I'm not sure why they put $11.99 on the flier. No one has arranged anything with us and we aren't able to do special pricing like that. The prices are all set by the company or by the publishers.
Lady: But the flier says that it's available at your store for $11.99. Why would they put that?
Me: I'm not sure where they got that number from. Give me one second. (Pull up Borders.com to discover that the special on-line pricing is... you guessed it, $11.99) Okay, I see what happened. Whoever put the flier together looked it up online and put the sale price. Unfortunately that price is only valid online. It even says it on the website.
Lady: But the paper doesn't say anything about that. Why didn't someone tell me when I bought this book?
Me: Because it's not our flier. They put that out without contacting us or telling us anything.
Lady: Well, they're advertising your store.
Me: And we appreciate that. But we can't honor a price that someone put on a flier that isn't from our store.
Lady: So I can't get the $11.99?
Me: The only thing that we could do would be to have you bring back the book you bought, we could return it and then order the book online and have it shipped to you. That would take about a week.
Lady: Well, I don't need it until the end of July, but I figured I'd go ahead and get it now, since I was there and you had the book. So if I come in they can give me the $11.99?
Me: We would have to order it. But just to let you know, I don't know how long the book will be on sale on our website. I couldn't guarantee that if you came in next week it would still be $11.99.
Lady: Well, they would change it for me, right?
Me: No, we don't have any control over the website prices. If it's on sale you would get that price. If it's not, we can't change it.
Lady: Well I think in this instance you should since there was a discrepancy in the flier price.
Me: That wasn't our discrepancy. We can't help what some random person puts on a flier that they make.

Look! I made a flier where everything is half off! Why won't you honor it?!

Lady: So you can't give me the $11.99?
Me: Only if we order it through our website while it is still on sale.
Lady: When are you working? Because they won't let me return the book. They'll want to know why I'm returning a book and buying it again.
Me: As long as you have your receipt it won't be a problem to return the book.
Lady: But they won't know to give me the $11.99 price if you aren't there.
Me: The price is automatic on the website. It won't matter who helps you order it, the price is set right now. That's why I told you we can't change it, so if it's not on sale anymore, we wouldn't be able to give you that price.
Lady: Well, I just don't understand why you can't just give me that price. They should have told me when I was in the store, since it was on the flier.
Me: (losing it just a little) It's. Not. Our. Flier.
Lady: Oh, I understand that, but they shouldn't have put that on there.
Me: I agree.
Lady: I don't know when I'll be able to get a ride back over there. That's why I came today. Because my husband could bring me. He already doesn't like bringing me there, he's just going to love this.
Me: I'm sorry. I guess you just have to decide whether the $3 is worth making another trip over here.
Lady: I'm not someone to quibble over $3.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

This actually has nothing to do with the story,

but it was the only picture with the word "quibble" and it made me laugh so...

Me: (OH REALLY BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN ON THE PHONE FOR 15 MINUTES WITH YOU OVER $3!)
Lady: I guess I'm just going to keep it. It isn't worth coming back and going through all that. Thank you (hangs up)
Me:

And that's it for this week! Hope you're having a great summer!