puppetmaker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
puppetmaker) wrote2004-11-26 09:42 am
puppetmaker) wrote2004-11-26 09:42 am
Black Friday 2004
I have worked a lot of retail in my life. I have worked in department stores, bookstores, specialty retail, and comic book shops. On a number of occasions I worked the Friday after Thanksgiving or Black Friday as it is known in the trade. Today is used to gage the rest of the holiday buying season. For some it is a make or break day. For larger chain stores, the monetary goal for the store that day is jacked up to the stratosphere. This day is all about trying to make a profit for retailers. I have made it my personal goal not to buy anything today or even go out into the madness.
In high school a bunch of friends and I would go to the mall just to watch the insanity. People fighting over the early bird specials or yelling at the manager that the super special VCR at a price of 29.99 of which each store had only twenty to sell was gone. Of course they’re gone. Some people camped out over night to be first in line to get them.
Ah the madness. I think it has something to do with the turkey that everyone consumes the day before. I think Butterball is in on it and is putting something in the “extras” they pump the turkeys up with before selling them which makes people want to shop and be more aggressive about shopping. It also makes them unable to understand simple math and how to read coupons.
I can’t tell you how many times I had to explain that coupons could not be added to the discount already given. It was one or the other but not both. So if you have a coupon giving you 25% off and the object of your desire is already discounted at 30%, you do not get the 25% on top of the 30%. Also the 30% is a BETTER discount than your coupon. Fortunately one of the places I worked the computer register always gave the better discount but then the argument would ensue about how much a book should be.
Buy 3 get 1 Free always led to interesting conversations. Guess what Mr/s/iss/iz Buyer, you don’t get to choose which of these four items is the free one. It is the lowest priced item you are purchasing so of you have 4 Cds and 2 of them are prices at 15.99, one is prices at 29.99 (boxed set say) and 1 is priced at 7.99 (el cheapo discount music). The 7.99 CD is going to be the one you get free not the 29.99 one.
No rain checks means that we cannot give you the discount once we have sold out of the product. Nor can you return said product you bought over 30 days ago and then buy it at the mad sale price. Those items are a given in our inventory as selling for a loss. If we start adding to the loss we will shortly be out of business.
Most people who return things are legitimately making a return because of a number of reasons. These are the few scam artists out there who have made life so much harder for the rest of the shopping public. Recently there was an arrest made of a couple that went around parking lots of stores to find discarded receipts for cash purchases. They then went into a similar store and stole the merchandize that was on the receipt bringing it back to the original store and returning it for cash. They were caught by the parking lot cameras going through the discarded bags and taking receipts.
There are customers who take obnoxious to a whole new level angling to get a discount or free product. Those always took the cake. Sometimes it took a little while to figure out their scam but once we could prove their shenanigans, we could ban them from the store. This was a rare case since banning from a chain store takes one heck of a paper trail. There were some people who were told that they could not longer return things to the store since they were chronic returners. They tend to use bookstores as another form of a library. They would buy an expensive book and then return it within the 30 day limit. Again they would have a pattern that we would pick up over time.
Ah those were the days and I am glad I am not out there this year in retail. So to all of you who have had to deal with hoards today, I lift my coffee cup in salute and hope that someone thanked you for your hard work today. If not then take my sincere thanks for dealing with humanity not at its best today.
I am grateful that I did work retail at one time.
In high school a bunch of friends and I would go to the mall just to watch the insanity. People fighting over the early bird specials or yelling at the manager that the super special VCR at a price of 29.99 of which each store had only twenty to sell was gone. Of course they’re gone. Some people camped out over night to be first in line to get them.
Ah the madness. I think it has something to do with the turkey that everyone consumes the day before. I think Butterball is in on it and is putting something in the “extras” they pump the turkeys up with before selling them which makes people want to shop and be more aggressive about shopping. It also makes them unable to understand simple math and how to read coupons.
I can’t tell you how many times I had to explain that coupons could not be added to the discount already given. It was one or the other but not both. So if you have a coupon giving you 25% off and the object of your desire is already discounted at 30%, you do not get the 25% on top of the 30%. Also the 30% is a BETTER discount than your coupon. Fortunately one of the places I worked the computer register always gave the better discount but then the argument would ensue about how much a book should be.
Buy 3 get 1 Free always led to interesting conversations. Guess what Mr/s/iss/iz Buyer, you don’t get to choose which of these four items is the free one. It is the lowest priced item you are purchasing so of you have 4 Cds and 2 of them are prices at 15.99, one is prices at 29.99 (boxed set say) and 1 is priced at 7.99 (el cheapo discount music). The 7.99 CD is going to be the one you get free not the 29.99 one.
No rain checks means that we cannot give you the discount once we have sold out of the product. Nor can you return said product you bought over 30 days ago and then buy it at the mad sale price. Those items are a given in our inventory as selling for a loss. If we start adding to the loss we will shortly be out of business.
Most people who return things are legitimately making a return because of a number of reasons. These are the few scam artists out there who have made life so much harder for the rest of the shopping public. Recently there was an arrest made of a couple that went around parking lots of stores to find discarded receipts for cash purchases. They then went into a similar store and stole the merchandize that was on the receipt bringing it back to the original store and returning it for cash. They were caught by the parking lot cameras going through the discarded bags and taking receipts.
There are customers who take obnoxious to a whole new level angling to get a discount or free product. Those always took the cake. Sometimes it took a little while to figure out their scam but once we could prove their shenanigans, we could ban them from the store. This was a rare case since banning from a chain store takes one heck of a paper trail. There were some people who were told that they could not longer return things to the store since they were chronic returners. They tend to use bookstores as another form of a library. They would buy an expensive book and then return it within the 30 day limit. Again they would have a pattern that we would pick up over time.
Ah those were the days and I am glad I am not out there this year in retail. So to all of you who have had to deal with hoards today, I lift my coffee cup in salute and hope that someone thanked you for your hard work today. If not then take my sincere thanks for dealing with humanity not at its best today.
I am grateful that I did work retail at one time.