# Is this Barnes & Noble crazy or am I? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 17, 2010, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982 "2010-07-17T01:53:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/61 "2010-07-17T19:22:18Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > While I know Wal-Mart is extremely liberal with their return policy, a quarter of a million dollars requires someone to spend $100 a week at Wal-Mart every week for 50 years. That is only possible if someone is a grocery shopper at Wal-Mart and even then it seems high. That doesn’t seem ridiculously high for someone buying for a family. Groceries, a large electronic item every so often, clothes, housewares, lawn products, oil changes, toiletries, etc… here’s a sampling of the article: > [@](#): > > Still, she wasn’t afraid to tackle the topic of termination. During our initial six months on the job, we would be on probation on a “three strikes” basis. One major screw-up would trigger a session of “verbal coaching.” (Since positivism is endemic in Wal-Mart, words such as “discipline” are seldom used. The goal is self-improvement.) A second offense would trigger some written coaching. On the third offense, the employee would be sent home to think long and hard about what happened, and would have to come back the next day with a good argument for not being fired. In effect, Wal-Mart would say, “You seem to be a hopeless case. Now tell us why we’re wrong.” We were given only a handful of outright prohibitions. No swearing in the store, for instance - not even the word “damn,” because some people might be offended. No funny-colored hair or blatant skin piercings, because some people might be offended. In fact almost all the rules devolved to the sacred principle of never, ever offending a customer - or “guest,” in Wal-Mart terminology. > > **The reason was clearly articulated. On average, anyone walking into Wal-Mart is likely to spend more than $200,000 at the store during the rest of his life. Therefore, any clueless employee who alienates that customer will cost the store around a quarter-million dollars. “If we don’t remember that our customers are in charge,” our trainer warned us, “we turn into Kmart.”** She made that sound like devolving into some lesser being - a toad, maybe, or an ameba. > > And so we came to the Wal-Mart Pledge. Solemnly, each of us raised one hand and intoned: “If a customer comes within 10 feet of me, I’m going to look him in the eye, smile and greet him.” Having pledged ourselves, we encountered the aspect of Wal-Mart employment that impressed me most: The Telxon, pronounced “Telzon,” a hand-held bar-code scanner with a wireless connection to the store’s computer. When pointed at any product, the Telxon would reveal astonishing amounts of information: the quantity that should be on the shelf, the availability from the nearest warehouse, the retail price, and (most amazing of all) the markup. [FLY ON THE WAL: UNDERCOVER AT WAL-MART, THE HEARTLAND SUPERSTORE THAT MAY SAVE THE ECONOMY, By CHARLES PLATT](http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/item_K8hD47GcZBkh1v3SjNYldI;jsessionid=53F75646A1DB9997BA491C32BBBFED0D) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Presidente](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@El\_Presidente](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Presidente)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/62 "2010-07-17T19:27:45Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > Clearly your charisma insulated you from my cutting wit. “Cutting”, maybe. But you give yourself way too much credit when you say “wit”. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/63 "2010-07-17T19:29:23Z")
> [@El\_Presidente](#): > > “Cutting”, maybe. > > But you give yourself way too much credit when you say “wit”. does your charisma tell you that? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Presidente](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@El\_Presidente](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Presidente)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/64 "2010-07-17T19:35:14Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > does your charisma tell you that? HO HO HO, another joke with the word “charisma” in it, HO HO HO. I take my last post back. “Nitwit” is a much better term to describe your comedic skills. Have any more one liners using the word “charisma” or are you done being boring? ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/65 "2010-07-17T19:36:52Z")
> [@El\_Presidente](#): > > HO HO HO, another joke with the word “charisma” in it, HO HO HO. > > I take my last post back. “Nitwit” is a much better term to describe your comedic skills. > > Have any more one liners using the word “charisma” or are you done being boring? I thought charismatic people were unboring enough for the whole party. How’s that? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/66 "2010-07-17T19:37:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Isn’t that what the free market’s all about? As long as there’s no deceit or coercion, people are supposed to maximize their own advantage. It seems sort of lopsided if the idea becomes that businesses are supposed to maximize their advantage and customers are supposed to just take what they’re offered without question. First off, I agree with your OP, I think you should have been able to get your money back, or at the very least return it and rebuy the items. But WRT this post, the free market is still at play. You could have returned the items and walked out. Instead of making some money, now they’re making none. Enough people do this and either they’ll change their behavior or one of the other stores (like Boarders) is going to pick up the slack. From their POV, you kept the movies, right. So they got to keep your money which is really what it’s all about for them. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Presidente](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@El\_Presidente](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Presidente)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/67 "2010-07-17T19:39:19Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > I thought charismatic people were unboring enough for the whole party. > > How’s that? That was just GREAT! Have any more? ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/68 "2010-07-17T19:40:18Z")
> [@El\_Presidente](#): > > That was just GREAT! Have any more? possibly; with your charisma you should be able to coax it out of me. like 5 more DVDs and a couple of paperweights. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Presidente](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@El\_Presidente](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Presidente)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/69 "2010-07-17T19:43:33Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > possibly; with your charisma you should be able to coax it out of me. like 5 more DVDs and a couple of paperweights. You are a talent. As a matter of fact, I am emailing a link to this thread to David Letterman and Jay Leno’s show websites because they are both missing out on a first class joke writer. So please, keep going. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/70 "2010-07-17T19:46:23Z")
> [@El\_Presidente](#): > > You are a talent. As a matter of fact, I am emailing a link to this thread to David Letterman and Jay Leno’s show websites because they are both missing out on a first class joke writer. So please, keep going. you’re not really having me leaving thinking I got the deal of a lifetime… ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/71 "2010-07-17T19:47:52Z")
I have done this many times at various stores. Most give a 30 day policy (or similar) where they will price adjust, however, most exclude “final discount”, seasonal, or clearance prices. Was that what this was? It does make sense for the stores to limit how people can do this. Obviously some items have more value right after they are released, and some people are willing to pay premium prices to have items right away, other people wait until they are no longer ‘hot’ or new releases to get discounts. Stores want to make as much as they can off the former people. As you said, when you went back the DVDs you bought were no longer there, you had the last ones, so obviously they had enough people willing to pay premium prices (or at least less discounted prices) for them. Maybe the sale was to clear out remaining stock to make room for new product? Then making deeper discounts on remaining stock makes sense. However, if it was a regular sale where the price is discounted for a while and then goes back up to regular price, and it was an item that was going to be restocked, their policy makes no sense. It seems odd that they would have a sale right after another sale on the same items, unless it was being clearanced. (But, if I were you, I probably would have returned them and had my husband go back and buy them again too.) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/72 "2010-07-17T19:53:43Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > you’re not really having me leaving thinking I got the deal of a lifetime… You two flirting so overtly with each other is getting a little squicky. Please get a room. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/73 "2010-07-17T19:54:39Z")
> [@astro](#): > > You two flirting so overtly with each other is getting a little squicky. Please get a room. I just can’t help myself. It’s the charisma, you know 😃 (yeah, I’ll stop it now for the sake of the thread 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/74 "2010-07-17T20:00:45Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > That doesn’t seem ridiculously high for someone buying for a family. Groceries, a large electronic item every so often, clothes, housewares, lawn products, oil changes, toiletries, etc… I’m not saying its impossible, I’m just saying that it is very unlikely that most Wal-Mart customers are that devoted to the store. In areas with few shopping choices, sure. But in a world where Best Buy, Target, Kohl’s, those weird west coast big box chains and a variety of regional grocers spread the money too thin. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/75 "2010-07-17T20:04:43Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I’m not saying its impossible, I’m just saying that it is very unlikely that most Wal-Mart customers are that devoted to the store. In areas with few shopping choices, sure. But in a world where Best Buy, Target, Kohl’s, those weird west coast big box chains and a variety of regional grocers spread the money too thin. That’s the entire point of distinguishing yourself by having generous return policies and generally not upsetting your customers, though. Given the amount of shit that average people buy, and given that there are large chunks of people that don’t live close to “power strips” of mega mall box chains (meaning that Wal-Mart’s numerical superiority makes it their only viable source of many of these goods), I’m not going to doubt Wal-Mart’s metrics on this. (ok, maybe +/- a moderate %age, but it doesn’t seem that out of whack) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/76 "2010-07-17T21:20:48Z")
> [@](#): > > That would illegal. And is completely different from not having a price adjustment policy on previous purchases, which B&N doesn’t seem to have. > > Expecting them to honor a policy they don’t have is like those assholes who bring an unpriced item up to the cashier and expect it to be free. The first clerk last week was wrong. It sucks that you went back to the store and wasted your time, but c’est la vie. They have a policy of refunding purchases. And they have a policy of selling things. And those are the only two things I wanted to so. So what policy did they lack? > [@](#): > > It seems odd that they would have a sale right after another sale on the same items, unless it was being clearanced. The sales weren’t identical. The first sale was “buy two, get one free” on all DVD’s. The second sale was half price on all Criterion DVD’s. They just happened to overlap in my case because the DVD’s I bought in the first sale were all Criterions. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/77 "2010-07-17T21:23:39Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > They have a policy of refunding purchases. And they have a policy of selling things. And those are the only two things I wanted to so. So what policy did they lack? A price adjustment policy is different and you know it. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/78 "2010-07-17T21:45:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I don’t see why people are assuming there was some deceit involved here. I wasn’t lying to anyone in the store and, as far as I know, nobody in the store was lying to me. hahaha, because this is the Dope, home of many skeptics, and the story is unusual. I’ve worked in the music department of a B&N for six years, and the behavior of the employees you describe (especially the managers) just doesn’t make sense. Forgive my obvious bias, but generally it’s the customer who does crazy inexplicable shit, not the employees. Simply put, they can get away with it; we cannot. If you had your receipt and the DVDs weren’t damaged in any way, I just cannot imagine a manager refusing to sell you the DVDs at the lower price after refunding the original purchase. Even though accepting a return from the Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale is against stated policy, managers routinely make the exception in the interest of keeping you as a customer. And the idea that they would then refuse a sale, especially at this time of the year, especially in this economy, is utterly bizarre behavior unless there was some kind of extenuating circumstance. > [@](#): > > I told them the truth that I was returning them to take advantage of the new sale. Yeah, despite what some other posters in this thread are saying, this happens all the time and isn’t really outrageous behavior at all. As far as customer requests go, it’s downright logical. Especially when the Criterion 50% Off sale follows B2G1 Free. > [@](#): > > So, once again, I’m not saying their policy was _deceitful_ - I’m saying it was _irrational_. And I wasn’t trying to trick them - I was trying to make them see reason. Again, for them to refuse you the sale, you must have done something that really, really set their alarm bells off. Nothing in your story as you present it here warrants that kind of behavior. Maybe you have found the crazy B&N. If so, I kinda want to work a few shifts there. I think I would enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/79 "2010-07-17T21:50:43Z")
Worked at Gamestop for a year and I did this sort of thing all the time. B&N is wrong. Anyone who thinks you’re scamming or cheap or crazy is wrong. I’ve done this as a customer and as an employee. Never heard of a store refusing to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982/80 "2010-07-17T22:33:33Z")
> [@](#): > > A price adjustment policy is different and you know it. How so? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-barnes-noble-crazy-or-am-i/546982.md?page=5)