I went to buy sunglasses today. I looked at a few pairs and found one I liked - a nice, polarized set of Oakleys. Expensive. I told the clerk I’d take them, and she grabbed an Oakley box from under the display cabinet and started to put them in there.
“Hold it,” I said. “I don’t want those, I want a new pair.”
“These are new,” she replied, looking at me like a small child.
“No, they’re not, they’ve been taken out of their box and put in the display cabinet. I want a new pair.”
She looked at the sunglasses in her hand. I could see a big thumbprint on one of the lenses. “There’s nothing wrong with these,” she said, authoritatively.
“I don’t care. For $200, I want new ones.”
She looked at the shelf. “These are the only ones we have,” she said, not very authoritatively.
I looked at the shelf. “You mean, if I were to buy them, you’d just have an empty slot on the shelf? What would you put in their place?”
She grimaced. “Hold on a minute.”
She went back to the desk and rummaged around in drawers for a bit. Soon a new pair of sunglasses emerged, and I paid for them and left.
I have had this happen many times, mostly buying sunglasses and watches, but often with other products as well. Since when has it become acceptable to sell the display models at the same price as new ones?
I don’t want to buy the sunglasses that have been sitting on the shelf for who knows how long, that every dumb schmuck who wanders into the store can try on, scratch, bend, and otherwise screw up.
I don’t want to inspect my brand-new sunglasses for damage. That’s why I’m buying goddamned new sunglasses! If I wanted to put up with this shit, I’d buy a pair used on eBay.
Christ.
