"That is ROBBERY!!!!"

[Dave1982]

I meant to post this yesterday, but didn't.

It's BTS time again, which means selling lots of useless junk like Book Sox.

I was taking overflow from the main registers over at the copy center when this woman came up with her daughter. Among other things, they had half a dozen Book Sox (stretchy fabric book covers) at $4-5 each, plus tax.

SC: Obviously

D: SC's daughter.

Her total came to $48.xx.

SC: $48?!?!?!!?!!!ELEVENTY!!!!!

Me: Yes, ma'am.

SC: How much were these?!?! *holds up Book Sox*

Me *checking the screen*: $4-5 each.

SC: $4-5 FOR A PIECE OF FABRIC?!?!?!?!?!ELEVENTY!!!!!!!

Me *flushing a bit at the unexpected outburst but otherwise remaining calm*: Yes.

SC: I'm sorry but that is ROBBERY!!!!ELEVENTY!!!!! It's just a PIECE OF FABRIC!!!!!!!!

D: Mom, yelling won't help. It's not like if you yell they'll make you pay LESS.

Me:............

Me (thinking): :highfive:

The SC still said several more times before leaving that it's "just a piece of fabric" and that $5 for it was "robbery." She was REALLY mad. So mad she was fumbling with her debit card and had trouble entering her PIN.

I have a few things to ask her:

1) Why do you think I give a damn? I'm just the lowly clerk.

2) Why do you think I have anything to do with setting prices? I DON'T

3) That fancy blouse you're wearing.....how much did it cost? I'll bet it was a LOT more than $5, and IT is just a piece of fabric. Did you yell and scream at the clothing store clerks as well?

4) If your daughter is too good to use paper grocery bags as books covers like most people do (and like I did all the way through high school), well, then that's the price you have to pay. Manufactured products are more than the sum of their parts, and are priced accordingly

But kudos to the daughter for being the voice of reason!! :yourock:

[fireheart]

I remember back in primary school and for the first three years of high school, I used coloured contact for each of my books. We were given the exercise books up until Year 8 (primary is reception (kindergarten) to Year 7, high school is Year 8-12.) after which we had to pay for them. One trip to the newsagent for some coloured contact? Voila. Done.

I really don't get bok sox.

[Pairou]

Aw, but I used to love my book covers. X3 They were stretchy and kept me entertained when I was supposed to be studying math. Which explains a lot...

[CaroPhoenix]

My parents always used plain brown paper bags to cover the books. Then we'd write the name of the book on the front and then I'd get to decorate the cover any way I'd want to.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Gee, and not a word about the gun you were holding to her head, forcing her to go ahead and make the purchase, right? :rolleyes:

[morgana]

My parents always used plain brown paper bags to cover the books. Then we'd write the name of the book on the front and then I'd get to decorate the cover any way I'd want to.

Me, too. Plus, it gave me a place to doodle when I was bored out of my mind in any particular class. :D

[MelodiousBubbles]

Why not buy stretchy fabric and make your own book sox? They look cooler. Or, as mentioned, paper bags have worked wonders through the ages. Hell, I covered a couple of my COLLEGE books with paper so I wouldn't doodle on the covers :p

English 101 gets very boring when your professor is a self-important bitch who doesn't seem to know what she's doing.

[evilhomer]

Okay... what the hell is "Eleventy"??? Is this a number, an expression, what?


Oh these people who are unfamiliar with the concept of capitalism. The price that is charged is the price that someone is willing to pay. It doesn't matter if it's a cheap piece of fabric or a solid gold bar, companies are out to make a profit and they do so by charging the most that they believe they can get. Don't like it, don't buy it. I'm glad to see the daughter hasn't been poisoned by the mother's stupidity... yet.

[Stormraven]

I never used book covers. No one in any of the schools I attended did, to my recollection. I can see why they'd get used, but I guess it wasn't a big deal where I grew up.

[mikoyan29]

Okay... what the hell is "Eleventy"??? Is this a number, an expression, what?
I'm gonna take a wild stab but I think it comes from the !!!!!11111!!!!!!! where someone is typing a bunch exclamation points and takes his finger off the shift key for a bit.

[taurinejunkie]

Wild stab is 100% correct, actually.

[tropicsgoddess]

Okay... what the hell is "Eleventy"??? Is this a number, an expression, what?


Oh these people who are unfamiliar with the concept of capitalism. The price that is charged is the price that someone is willing to pay. It doesn't matter if it's a cheap piece of fabric or a solid gold bar, companies are out to make a profit and they do so by charging the most that they believe they can get. Don't like it, don't buy it. I'm glad to see the daughter hasn't been poisoned by the mother's stupidity... yet.

Eleventy!!!11!!! is when somebody gets over excited and forgets to press the shift key and gets 11 when making exclamation points. It's usually for over-dramatic expressions like this particular SC the OP was talking about.

Sometimes I wonder how kids like the SC's daughter come out so good from such parents like that SC.

[KymmyKyller]

I always lost those book cover stretchy things. They're awesome to wear as hats. But really, most of my school life I used brown paper bags. Bit of tape, a sharpie, and a pencil/pen and by the end of the year, you couldn't tell what the book was anymore from so many doodles over the title.

[technical.angel]

English 101 gets very boring when your professor is a self-important bitch who doesn't seem to know what she's doing.

Strange! You went to my college???

[XCashier]

D: Mom, yelling won't help. It's not like if you yell they'll make you pay LESS.
Somebody clone that kid, quick! :yourock:

I never even bothered with book covers. Never saw the point of them. Then again, I was always a lot more gentle with my books than most of my peers were...

[mandaliz8704]

I used paper bags as well. I loved it when they were about 6 months old and were furry from the paper fibers sticking out. :lol:

[protege]

In grade school, we had to keep our books covered. Most of mine were simply paper bags, but sometimes I'd "mix it up" and use newspaper. That last one used to piss off my teachers--I'd occasionally be reading the comics :lol:

As to that entitled parent, I just have one bit of advice... "Open up yer wallet, you cheap bastard!" :devil:

[RecoveringKinkoid]

:ot:

My mom asked my sister once to put a cover on the borrowed copy of The Tommyknockers she was reading.

My sister made one out of a brown bag, and being the artistic person she is, drew a sketch of a monster on the cover.

And being the smartass she is, also made a nice title: The Tallywhackers.

Took my mom several days to notice it. In the meantime, she wondered frequently about the double takes and outright stares her book was getting.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I hate people who make generalizations like that.

It's like the people I run into at work who think DS games should cost like $3 each because "they're so darn small!"

:rolleyes:

[MrsEclipse]

Strange! You went to my college???

Over my life I have learned something: There are many wonderful, fantastic professors of English in circulation today. You will probably not have them. We're very sorry.

And I never, ever used book covers, nor have I met anyone in school who does. I honestly didn't realize they were so widespread until I really paid attention around BTS time. So clearly they're not required for academic success. And no, you can't see my GPA! Trust me. It- it's not the book covers.

Love the daughter, too.

[JustaCashier]

Now I know one shouldn't "ASS-U-ME", but wouldn't there have been a price clearly marked, near the product?

If she's so damned concerned about the cost of something, wouldn't she take an extra moment while at the product shelf/display, to look for a price? :banghead:



Sometimes I wonder how kids like the SC's daughter come out so good from such parents like that SC.

:headscratch: Must be the Recessive Non-Sucky Gene. Probably hasn't appeared in her lineage, since at least her Grandparents, or Great-Grands. :lol:

Mike

[Dave1982]

Now I know one shouldn't "ASS-U-ME", but wouldn't there have been a price clearly marked, near the product?

Oh yes, the prices were quite clearly marked. But come now, you know about SCs and signs. :rolleyes:

[cinema guy]

My mum was a teacher so she always had clear sticky plastic lying round at home so our books were covered in that, which was kind of boring but robust and doodle-proof. I could never do it without getting bubbles in it, but she was a dab hand at getting nice smooth covers.

[joe hx]

I would either use the paper bags or free book covers from the local Army recruiter.

One thing I always noticed is that book covers did no good for protecting the books. I spilled grape soda all over one of my books and ruined it (but oddly enough the teacher didn't check for damage... so I didn't have to pay for it).

[TonyDonuts]

Oh yes, the prices were quite clearly marked. But come now, you know about SCs and signs. :rolleyes:

And don't forget the whole "add-subtract-multiply-divide' thing. Lots of these missing links have a lot of trouble with that.

[LadyAndreca]

Paper bags all through middle school, here. I was another doodler, until high school when I discovered that the extra section in 5-subject notebooks could be used for writing stories and stuff. I still have my high school notes because of that...my stories are AWFUL fanfics, for the most part, but there's one or two I keep meaning to rewrite.

[Food Lady]

While I agree that the customer was sucky in her reaction, I agree w/ her opinion. Five dollars IS high; I'd expect to find those things in our dollar bins. But some schools around here require the fabric covers, as environmentally-unfriendly as they are. (We used paper grocery bags when I was in school, but times have changed.)

[ta2ooed1]

Am I the only one who saw the title and thought

"This is SPARTA!!!!!!!!!!!111ELEVENTY111!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

:p

[Jay 2K Winger]

One of the high schools I attended provided simple paper covers for the text books. One side was blank white, the other side had some advertisements from local businesses. Most students used the white side out and some (like Yours Truly) would doodle on them.

My chemistry cover had a drawing of a guy in a lab coat tossing a chemical from one flask to another. The back cover had the same guy in a tattered coat, holding broken flasks, charred and burned.

Sadly, it got thrown away.

[blas]

We were always threatened with.....something (never found out what) if we didn't cover our books.

Being dirt poor, I used paper bags. But I always needed new covers because it didn't take too long to doodle all over every single book. Yeah, I hated school every year.

[LadyAndreca]

Ours was making our parents buy the books. Which my parents in turn passed on to us kids. My parents were stingy with allowances, too--a cheap textbook would've taken two whole quarters to pay off if I'd damaged it! That's a long time with no allowance!

[bainsidhe]

Aren't these things something like 50 cents or a buck at your local Hell-Mart? Then the answer is obvious, go there. ;)

[persephone]

We used to do the paper grocery bag thing too and I loved it. By the end of the year my books were covered in sketches and writing and there was no doubt they were mine! Daughter and Son will use them too

[BookstoreEscapee]

It's BTS time again, which means selling lots of useless junk like Book Sox.

I was in B&N last weekend...they have scratch 'n sniff book socks now. :rolleyes:

As for the customer...whatever happened to paper grocery bags? Don't know if they still do it, but when I was a kid, around back to school time they usually had the instructions for turning them into a book cover printed right on them. Besides, paper covers are more fun cuz you can doodle on 'em. I suck at actually doing them, for some reason, though. I never understood why I couldn't do it but it always ended in tears and my mom would end up doing it for me.

I do own a fabric book cover, which I bought when I still worked in the store and was able to borrow hardcover books. We had to leave the jacket in the store, so I got the cover to avoid damaging the books I borrowed so I wouldn't end up having to pay for them.

And I never, ever used book covers, nor have I met anyone in school who does. I honestly didn't realize they were so widespread until I really paid attention around BTS time. So clearly they're not required for academic success. And no, you can't see my GPA! Trust me. It- it's not the book covers.

We were always required to cover books within X days of the start of school. I don't know what the consequences were if we didn't do it, though. :shrug:

But some schools around here require the fabric covers, as environmentally-unfriendly as they are. (We used paper grocery bags when I was in school, but times have changed.)

I think I would have to have a chat with the teacher on that one, if I were a parent. I totally understand the reason for covering books, but requiring people to actually spend money on it is a little much, in my opinion. Brown paper bags, or some inexpensive heavy paper from an art supply store should be sufficient.

[Food Lady]

My chemistry cover had a drawing of a guy in a lab coat tossing a chemical from one flask to another. The back cover had the same guy in a tattered coat, holding broken flasks, charred and burned. Sadly, it got thrown away. I love it! You're brilliant.

[evilhomer]

Eleventy!!!11!!! is when somebody gets over excited and forgets to press the shift key and gets 11 when making exclamation points. It's usually for over-dramatic expressions like this particular SC the OP was talking about.

Sometimes I wonder how kids like the SC's daughter come out so good from such parents like that SC.

Oh, my bad. I thought it was a quote of something this moron had actually said. That explanation makes a lot more sense.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

My parents always used plain brown paper bags to cover the books. Then we'd write the name of the book on the front and then I'd get to decorate the cover any way I'd want to.

I used Contact paper with the backing still on for my textbooks and binders (the ones I used outside of the Trapper Keepers) when I was in school.

Come to think of it, I still have several binders that I covered in a cute blue/pink cat print from years ago . . .;)