Why can't I buuuuyyyy it?!?

[LillFilly]

While I was on patrol I passed-by one of our displays for a garage/basement/closet finishing company. It has 3-sides and each side shows an example of what the finished product would look like; like hanging hooks, shelves and bins on the garage side, wall material for the basement side, etc. To show what you can use everything for, the Reps hung rakes, golf clubs, a hula-hoop and folding chairs on the garage side, along with filling the bin with a couple of basket balls.

I saw this REALLY confused looking middle-aged woman standing where the rep is usually posted. She asked me when they'd be back. I looked at the sign she was standing in front of that said "back in 5-minutes" I told her he was probably getting lunch, and was about to tell her she could just fill-out a card when she said in a really confused, whiny voice:

"Weeelll, I HOPE he comes back soon. I saw these balls and that hula hoop and I want to buy them for my grandchildren!"

I (without laughing) told her that this was a display to show home improvements and the items were to show what you could possibly use the shelves and racks for.

"Weeelll, that's the SILLIEST THING I've ever heard of! Not selling the things they advertise! That's not riiiighhhttt!

I had to explain AGAIN that they are not selling the items, but the THINGS the items are on. She still didn't seem to get it.

"Weellll, I REALLY WANTED to get these for my grandchildren; they love balls and hula hoops and....(She just kept going and going and going...)

Finally I told her "Well ma'am, you can actually buy it cheaper at *----*" and directed her down to that store.

"Oh, really?!? Thank you! Because my grandchildren just love balls and I really wanted to get these for them.......

I just smiled and nodded and started backing away until I reached the corner where I could bolt to my office!

[saturnz_dragon]

This reminds me of something that happens at my job at Target. We used to have little stuffed Target dogs sitting on the registers because employees would get them as prizes for getting someone to sign up for a credit card, etc. Well, quite a few customers thought they were cute and actually took them off of the registers and put them on the belt to buy them.... Uhhh, if it's on the cash register, it's not for sale. So I had to tell them I could not sell it to them but we do sell them online. Most people would say, "Oh sorry!" and be fine with it, but I had many people try to give me money for it or haggle a price or something.

There was one lady that said, "Ohhhh my dog would loooooove this!! She's a chiuaua and she would loooooove it! It's her birthday soon! Can I have it? I won't tell anyone!"

Ummm... NO. Go away. I don't care about your dog, the toy is not for sale, and no you definitely aren't getting it for free. We've stopped putting the stuffed dogs on the registers (thank goodness).

[Marmalady]

I've had people trying to buy the store shopping baskets before now. We have to put security tags on them otherwise they disappear.