Sunday, January 21, 2007

Bad, Bad Discount Retailers

Yesterday, Mom bought a nice little stainless steel thermos for $9.95 at a discount retailer who shall remain nameless. We then went to Barnes and Noble, a store of some sophistication. (Chuck Schumer is coming to speak on the subject, "How Great I Am!" which is the same subject he spoke on at my graduation from M'ville. I guess he's gonna throw some stuff in about the vanishing middle class, too, who, far as I can tell from our shopping trip yesterday, has all vanished to the plethora of middle-class shopping stores on Commercial Drive.)) There, on display, was THE EXACT SAME THERMOS for $19.95! We were so incensed we marched back to the nameless discount retailer, waved the thermos in their faces and demanded to know who the hell they thought they were, selling this thermos so cheap. We told them they should sell everything for twice as much and then maybe they'd be able to pay their employees decent wages, give them full one-hour paid lunch breaks, and full-coverage medical insurance for their families. We told them we were tired of being ripped off and taken advantage of. They told us they were sorry we were unhappy with the price of their merchandise and cheerfully gave us a refund.

We then went back to B and N and bought the thermos for a reasonable price. We offered, actually, to pay even more if, say, one of them needed a lunch break, but they said $19.95 was fine and they weren't like a certain nameless discount retailer who rips everybody off.

What a great day!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man, these guys have no shame.

Dad said...

There oughta be a law.