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We have five different kinds of bags where I work. Two are sturdy paper bags with handles in large and small sizes. One is plastic and two are flat paper bags in medium and small sizes (medium is the size of a magazine and they will hold a lot more than you'd think they would).
People love the handle bags. They ask for them all the time, particularly the smaller size because it's great for carrying lunch or whatever (why don't you get a lunch box??). Often people who are too lazy to wrap gifts and too cheap to buy a gift bag will ask for a small handle bag with tissue paper in it so they can just shove it at the recipient. "Here you go, I'm so lazy and cheap I got you a plain paper gift bag with the logo of the bookstore on it..."
Here's the thing: Handle bags are expensive, more expensive than the flat bags and way more expensive than plastic (like 12 cents compared to 9 cents compared to three cents...I think that's how it breaks down). Management has asked us to use the plastic and flat bags whenever possible.
But customers don't realize we actually have to buy bags; they think they just magically appear at the register. So here is the actual story:
Woman buys 8 copies of the same magazine because her/a relative/her child/ a friend was in it (I wasn't really listening) and asks for 8 small handle bags so she can give them her friends.
WTF? If someone specifically asks for a handle bag I will usually give it to them, but 8? For magazines? No way in hell.
So I lied. I told her the company has recently put in place a new policy: one handle bag per customer. She looked deflated but just said "Okay." I was hoping she would ask why so I could explain that bags cost the store money and possibly educate her, but she didn't ask.
I feel a little bad for lying but seriously woman, how clueless can you be? Was I wrong in lying to her about the bags?
People love the handle bags. They ask for them all the time, particularly the smaller size because it's great for carrying lunch or whatever (why don't you get a lunch box??). Often people who are too lazy to wrap gifts and too cheap to buy a gift bag will ask for a small handle bag with tissue paper in it so they can just shove it at the recipient. "Here you go, I'm so lazy and cheap I got you a plain paper gift bag with the logo of the bookstore on it..."
Here's the thing: Handle bags are expensive, more expensive than the flat bags and way more expensive than plastic (like 12 cents compared to 9 cents compared to three cents...I think that's how it breaks down). Management has asked us to use the plastic and flat bags whenever possible.
But customers don't realize we actually have to buy bags; they think they just magically appear at the register. So here is the actual story:
Woman buys 8 copies of the same magazine because her/a relative/her child/ a friend was in it (I wasn't really listening) and asks for 8 small handle bags so she can give them her friends.
WTF? If someone specifically asks for a handle bag I will usually give it to them, but 8? For magazines? No way in hell.
So I lied. I told her the company has recently put in place a new policy: one handle bag per customer. She looked deflated but just said "Okay." I was hoping she would ask why so I could explain that bags cost the store money and possibly educate her, but she didn't ask.
I feel a little bad for lying but seriously woman, how clueless can you be? Was I wrong in lying to her about the bags?
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