Sorry, you can't take the merhandise from the store for testing.

[Juggler]

A matter of minutes ago an old guy brings up some books on CD and asks if he can take them to the car to see if he has "read" (having a recorded stranger read the story to you isn't reading) them before. My response was "Sorry, I don't know you.".

His response, as he stormed out, was "You're worse than the other guy.". I don't know which other guy he meant. It could be my co-worker, who is crazy friendly. It cold be my boss who is so afraid of offending anyone that he is very off-putting. Or it could be the guy down the street, who is way meaner than I would ever dream of being. Whatever.

[Sheldonrs]

A matter of minutes ago an old guy brings up some books on CD and asks if he can take them to the car to see if he has "read" (having a recorded stranger read the story to you isn't reading) them before. My response was "Sorry, I don't know you.".

His response, as he stormed out, was "You're worse than the other guy.". I don't know which other guy he meant. It could be my co-worker, who is crazy friendly. It cold be my boss who is so afraid of offending anyone that he is very off-putting. Or it could be the guy down the street, who is way meaner than I would ever dream of being. Whatever.

Or it could be the "other guy" who ALSO told him "no".

[BuryMe]

We had something similar once.

A customer brought a large piece of furniture to the cash, and said she was going to take it to her car to see if she could fit it in. If it fit, she would come back and pay for it.

The manager, for some strange reason, didn't agree to it.

[depechemodefan]

matter of minutes ago an old guy brings up some books on CD and asks if he can take them to the car to see if he has "read" (having a recorded stranger read the story to you isn't reading) them before. My response was "Sorry, I don't know you.".

I can imagine the old guy staying in the car until the end of the cd and returns it saying, "I never heard this one before but since I finished it I don't have a reason to buy it now."

[Teskeria]

'certainly you can take them to your car and check on them. It will be a $150 cash deposit per CD and the CD must be returned in exactly the same condition as when 'borrowed' to get the deposit back minus the purchase price. Please not the camera recording your agreement.'

[Sonoma]

I did actually get to take something from a store to test it, but it was with the store's permission. I was shopping for a handheld GPS unit, but wanted to check it's reception. Inside the store, it would pick up 0 satellites, so the clerk & I went outside to check it out. I did wind up buying it, but wasn't going to spend almost $200 on a piece of equipment without checking out it's function. I wanted something that was easy to operate one-handed with gloves on, and without picking up any satellites, I couldn't test it's functioning.

[Kristev]

Yes, but for one thing, you had the clerk go with you.

[PepperElf]

Yes, but for one thing, you had the clerk go with you.

yep. which is an excellent solution.

as for the audiobook (i personally love those myself, great for long drives or frequent commutes, or for knitting!)... the music store I use to go to had an excellent option

If you were a member of the store club you could ask to sample any music. They'd open it up for you, put it on their CD player and let you listen. (they could observe you of course). When you were done they'd re-seal the item.


Then they installed a system where they had samples of every CD stored into a database and you could put on headphones to see if you liked it. Personally I liked this option better because it was easier for us as customers, plus it meant no more re-sealed CDs for them (which in my opinion can technically make an item "used").