AloysiusWeasley (aloysiusweasley) wrote in bad_service,

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Barnes and Nobles annoyance

All right, so mom and I were out shopping yesterday. As a treat, we stop by Barnes n' Nobles, and we're all set to spend a ton of money on all our series that have come out on paperback (finally!). I was all psyched to pick up the book version of Howl's Moving Castle.

So, I check the shelf, and the trouble begins there. Just about every single book the author's ever written is there, but no Howl. So I head up to customer service to enquire. I wait patiently behind this particularly....ripe....human, asking about the Harry Potter series in a low tone, as though she was afraid of being caught asking for them. Finally, she steps off, and the teenager behind there ignores me for a few seconds, telling another worker coming in that he's going on break, and she needs to cover the customer service desk. He turns back and sees me, huffs a sigh, and asks what I need. No problem, everyone needs a break, he's probably tired, and most likely wants to clear his nostrils from the person before me and/or get home to his family for the holiday. No problem.

So I tell him what I'm looking for, and hand him the quasi-sequel, so I don't have to worry I'll spell the author's name wrong and throw a wrench in the whole search. He looks it up, and just my usual luck, "Sorry, we don't have that in stock at the moment." I'm highly disappointed, but I sigh in return, thank him for helping, have him order it, and give him my number to let me know when it comes in. I *suppose* I can wait another week for it to come in... D:

I, however, couldn't shake the niggling feeling in the back of my mind that he was a bit *too* quick in looking and rather abrupt. So we leave, and get ready for festivities for easter the next day. Things end today, and I head back home. Not even two hours after I walk in the door, B+N's already left a message, saying my book was in and ready for me to pick up! Now, I calculate, we went shopping after 6pm on saturday, and sunday is easter. So there's no way they got in a late shipment, and as far as I see it, I got screwed out of my book because this punk decided a.) his break was more important, and/or b.) he was too lazy to ask someone else to go in the back and get it for me. So now I get to drive another 45 mins. each way to go back and pick it up! WTF!*

* sorry about the tl;dr - I find myself incapable of shortening up a story. ;)

Edit: (Hmm, first time I've had to do a clarificiation edit! :) I would have actually been happier if I'd had to wait the week for them to get it in - I was annoyed because I *knew* they had it somewhere (hay look, they *did!*), as it *is* a kinda popular book, especially with the movie coming out only a year or so ago in the U.S. . On top of that, maybe I'm a bit of an entitlement person when I actually *do* go shopping - hey, if I'm looking for something, I want it like, yesterday. *shrugs* I do like B+N for their better sales for fiction clearence, but this is why I usually shop at Borders - at least they have extra copies of things hidden behind on the shelf, and more likely than not, they'll have what I'm looking for. Eh, I'm not usually one for getting bad service, anyhow - I'm always nice to the people that help me out with the mundane. ;)
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