Today my hubby was sweet enough to buy me a toy I’ve wanted badly for some time; a multimeter (little doodad for checking the condition of electronic stuff, mucho cool).
We stood for quite a while at the hardware store, looking over my choices. Did I want digital, or one with a needle? Which brand seemed better? Which one was cheaper?
So I decide on one, and we merrily pay for it and rush home so I can play with it. I am trying to repair a stereo reciever, and needed the multimeter to go any farther with it.
Was I excited? Yes! I immediately grabbed the bag and headed for my work area, stopping to grab a screwdriver to pry the staple out of the packaging with. With great anticipation I gently slid the cardboard backing off of the plastic package and see, to my suprise, the name MICHEAL SMITH scrawled accross the back of MY new multimeter in magic marker.WTF?
So, tomorrow, when the store opens again, I must go exchange MICHEAL SMITH’s multimeter for one of my own. I wonder how many I’ll have to look through to find the one with BUNNY MAMA on it?
Has this happened to anyone else? Should stores be this careless? Whadda ya think, 'dopers?
My math book. I payed the “new” price, but the book had highlighting in it. I didn’t even try to get the price reduced. I know that the book store is designed to rip the students off as much as possible. I am 100% sure they would claim I had done it. Once when I bought a used book the cahier practially accused me of trying to pass a new book off as used to get a better price.
Just recently. It was yucky. I purchased a small jar of vaseline. (Absolutely THE best thing for chapped lips and dry nostrils.) I got it home, opened it…and found that someone had already dipped up a gob.
Can you imagine anyone being so utterly depraved as to dip up a gob of vaseline and put the jar back to be purchased by an innocent, unsuspecting fellow being?
Well, what could I do? No point in taking it back. They’d never believe me. I used a tissue to scoop up and discard a layer so I could use the rest.
I used to work in a 24/7 convenience/deli/liquor store. Not only did we sell wine and beer (and those hybrid coolers) we sold the hard stuff, all the way up to Everclear. I frequently worked swing shift. So yes, I WOULD believe it. Some people will steal anything, if they think they can get away with it. Most people are decent and honest…but those few who take a five-finger discount cost us all.
Heck, one time I saw a woman take a can of deodorant, shake it, spray her pits, and then put it back on the shelf. While this doesn’t have the “yuck!” factor of the Vaseline incident, it’s still stealing.
Yeah, my car, I looked at the odometer and it said “000011.”
What the hell did they do, drive it five and a half miles from the factory, suddenly remember you can’t drive a car all the way to the America? Geez.
Once I bought a pint of Ben and Jerry’s coconut cream pie ice cream and got it home and found out that someone had already taken a few bites out of it. With a fork!
The really sad part was that I wanted it so bad I ate it anyway.
I was with a friend once when she bought a tiny bottle of Tylenol at a newstand (also in Port Authority, Hazel!). We were probably less than 20 feet away from the stand when she opened the bottle to find that the foil seal was broken and the cotton all displaced. Since they keep the pill bottles behind the counter, best I can figure is that an employee dipped in for a dose and maybe somebody else stuck the bottle back on display. I doubt that it was on purpose, but we marched right back and my friend got a new bottle.
Back in hippie times (before everything had some kind of seal) it was not unusual to get a jar of peanut butter with a rather obvious fingerfull missing.
I bought a Tandy 3000NL (286) from Radio Shack in the late '80s that had Deskmate burned into to the monitor and skid marks on the mouse. I complained and got new pieces, but noted about a year later that IBM got popped by the Justice Department for selling used stuff as new.
My last cell phone. Got it home and charge it up overnight. The next morning I attempted to enter stuff into the phone book. It was already full of listings “Mom & Dad”, etc, with North Bay, Ontario phone numbers.
Had it replaced that night.
My current scanner. When I opened the top for the first time, there was a paper in there that the previous purchaser must have scanned. It worked fine so I kept the scanner.
Bought our Dreamcast, took it home, opened it - the little feet are all gritty looking, and the hand controller has that grit that you always end up with in the seams of hand controllers. I tried to talk SO into returning it, but he decided not to bother.
Bought a bottle of Syrup of Ipecac (the stuff that makes you vomit nearly immediately - used for certain types of poisonings). Got home and opened the bottle to check: the foil had been punctured and half of the contents was gone.
I picture this shoplifter desperately trying to make it out the door or to the cashier (this store keeps the bathrooms locked and you have to get a muckin’ big key from the cashier).
OMG, screech-owl…That’s one hell of a way to deter shoplifting, lol!
Update: Returned MICHEAL SMITH’s multimeter. The gal at the service desk was super-nice. No hassle at all.
And I just remembered that my sister bought either a blender or a food processer (cant remember which) years ago, and found food particles left in the thing from its previous owner. Yuck.
I just can’t see anyone standing in a store thinking, “I really don’t need a whole jar of vaseline…I’ll just dip up a little…” Sheesh, people are strange.
Oooh. I can top all of you. This is so awfule, I hate to admit it happened to me. Last week at JC Penney’s. Jay-C is thrilled that she’s finally lost those last 5 pounds and can wear a bikini for the first time on vacation this year. After trying on dozens of suits, she finds the perfect one - not too revealing, and it fits just right. She happily pays for it and zips out the door, excited to model it for the SO. She gets home and runs around, showing the SO her new suit from every angle. As she bends all the way over to see if the suit will ride up (okay, that isn’t what I was really doing, but dammit that’s the story I’m sticking to), she notices a look of abject horror on the SO’s face. “Honey,” he says quietly, “I think you may have started your period.”
Surely he jests, she thinks, and takes off the suit quickly. No, she hasn’t started her period. But someone else had at some point, WHILE WEARING THIS SWIMSUIT!!! Not just a little spot of blood, either, like it had happened while trying the suit on. But a huge patch that covered most of the suit’s crotch! Apparently, the sales people had stuck one of those little paper sanitary liner things that are in new swimsuits over the bloodstain and put it out on the rack. Ewwwwwwwwww.
Years ago I bought Terry Pratchett’s “Soul Music” when it first came out.
I didn’t even have a look at the book, because I knew I wanted it - I just grabbed one off the huge pile on the table, paid and went home. When I opened the book later, I found it was signed by Pterry with the dedication “Dear John, I’m a lot madder than you”.
I met Pterry on a reading a few years later showed him the book and told him the story. He couldn’t remember “John” but was quite surprised, as obviously John had asked for a quite personal dedication.
I still have no idea how the book ended up for sale in that bookshop again (it was not a second-hand store)!!!
The item that was back in the plastic with someone’s name on it was obviously returned to the store and the store put it back on the shelf. I agree that people will steal from stores but in that case the store was trying to steal from the buyer.
I bought an expensive coffeemaker at Macy’s and found that it had been used to the point that the white coffeepot lid was stained brown. I took it back and complained and they gave me a new one. Two days later the used one was back on the shelf with the carton sealed up with tape. I took it to the clerk and said this item is used and it’s already been re-sold once. If you try selling it again I will call the better business bureau and report your store for fraud.
Two weeks later it was on the shelf again. I called BBB and they basically said oh well. I guess if you’re Macy’s no one cares.
