I've been watching too much "House MD"

[Kusanagi]

Before, when I would deal with stupid customers, I would be channeling Randall from Clerks.

Now, I tend to channel House.

Sorry this took so long to post, I've been insanely busy with life. Oy...I almost forgot my own birthday!

This happened the day before Thanksgiving. We always seem to get the ones that do no planning whatsoever. This one takes a special type of stupid.

It's 6:30 the day before Thanksgiving, half an hour before closing. I get a couple that come into the store. Long story short, they need a sofabed that night.

Now, one of the things I do is when someone says something completely stupid is to repeat it back to them.

Me: So, you need a sofabed for thanksgiving, and you either want me to deliver it tonight or first thing tommorrow, on thanksgiving, so your sister has a place to sleep...
SC: Yes.
Me: I'm sorry, there's no possible way...
SC: Why?
Me: First off, you're coming in here half an hour before we close, at 6:30 at night expecting a delivery within the next two hours. It's just not going to happen. Anyone who offers same day delivery service can't do it unless you go in before noon. Second, it's Thanksgiving tommorrow, nobody's open, including our delivery service. We wouldn't be able to deliver anything to you tommorrow.
SC: Well then I'll just take this one. (Him and his wife actually go over to the sofabed and start to lift it...)
Me: Woah woah, no no. I can't do that!
SC: Why not?
Me: I can't sell the display model.
SC: You have to. It's the law.
Me: Excuse me?
SC: This sofa is on sale. If you don't have any available, you have to sell this display sofa. It's the law. You will sell this sofa to me or there will be consequences.

This guy just turned on the hostility really quickly. So I decide not to play nice anymore. Besides, it's Thanksgiving tommorrow!

Me: No, the opposite is true. If I do sell the display and someone comes in here to see it and I don't have it, it's called a bait-and-switch. That's illegal. Besides, the piece is in stock, but I wouldn't be able to deliver it for a week.
SC: Then it is not in stock.
Me: Huh?
SC: If you can't get it to me when I want it you have to accomodate me. And I am taking this sofa tonight.
Me: It wouldn't fit in the back of your Tercel.
SC: So what are you going to do for me?
Me: Tell you to go to IKEA. They're open till 9 and will even help load it into your car for you.
SC: This is completely unnacceptable. I told you there would be consequences. I am taking this sofa.

Okay, that's it. Asshole time.

Me: "So why are you in this position? Did your sister call you an hour ago and say "Hey, surprise! I'm at the airport, I thought I'd come out and spend Thanksgiving with you!" And you're stopping at the sofabed store to get one on the way down to pick her up? Good news! IKEA's closer to the airport!

Oops. Wrong thing to say Basically, he cussed me out and continued to insult me personally. I found out from him he had known his sister was coming out three weeks ago, and I flat out told him that coming in the night before he needed it was incredibly poor planning on his part. He tried to argue with me again and tried to take the couch again; I told him that if he did it, it would be considered stealing and I would call the cops if he continued to threaten stealing the couch.

They finally left. To IKEA? God only knows.

[AriRashkae]

"Poor planning on your part ..."

You're right. Special kind of stupid there.

[HowMayIHelpMe?]

I told you there would be consequences. I am taking this sofa.

And I told YOU there would be consequences for coming into my store at 30 minutes to close the night before a major holiday....

< HowMayIHelpMe? then reaches forward, and undoes the pants of the asshat customer and pulls them down, and then, using his lighter, HowMayIHelpMe? sets the idiot customer's PUBES ON FIRE. >

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

< HowMayIHelpMe? then reaches forward, and undoes the pants of the asshat customer and pulls them down, and then, using his lighter, HowMayIHelpMe? sets the idiot customer's PUBES ON FIRE. >

That's quite the assumption you're making, assuming he's even got pubes...

[HowMayIHelpMe?]

That's quite the assumption you're making, assuming he's even got pubes...

I know. But if I don't go ahead and make that assumption, then I don't get my fantasy of igniting said idiot customer.

And I need my fantasy.

[Ree]

I can understand why you wouldn't sell the display, but I don't understand how it would be stealing if he was willing to pay for it, just because you told him you wouldn't sell it to him and he insisted on taking it?


As long as money changes hands, I don't understand the "theft" angle of it.

Other than that, yeah, poor planning and sucky attitude.

[Crazeyal]

just because you told him you wouldn't sell it to him and he insisted on taking it?

.

Are you kidding?!

First off, the guy said it was a CONSEQUENCE, and that he was TAKING the display. The customer had already been told he wasn't going to get service. The guy got rude with Kusanagi and he was refused service. He then stopped barganing and told Kus that he had no choice in the matter, he was TAKING the sofa.

If you break into a store, and take merchandise, does it matter if you leave money? No. It's still theft. Customers do not get the ability to walk into a store, take what they please, without the owner's approval. The staff are legal representatives of the owners. Having a standard policy is perfectly legal. Delivery takes time. The customer agrees with this by making the purchase.

This moron simply wanted to bully his way into fixing his own mistake.

[Ree]

Ummm...I highly doubt he meant he was taking it without paying.

You will sell this sofa to me or there will be consequences.

"Selling" usually involves an exchange of money for product. The consequence was not that he would get it for free from the way I am reading it.

He was using the term "taking" to mean he was insisting on paying for and receiving that exact sofa.

Last I looked, a retail store was in the business of selling product to their customers. That's how they stay in business. True, if they are told they cannot sell the display model then the customer really should not expect it, but, again, that is just pigheadedness to insist on getting the display, but it's not an illegal act.

As I said, the guy was acting like an ass, but let's use terms correctly and not make implications where there shouldn't be.

I still don't see how it could, in any way, be perceived or defined as theft if he insisted on Kusanagi selling him the display model.

Sucky and acting like an ass, yes, but not theft.

[Chromatix]

I was taught that a sale is a contract.

A contract, legally, has two parts: the offer and the acceptance.

At retail, the offer is the customer approaching the cashier and saying "I'll buy this for $X." The monetary amount is usually implied these days to be "whatever the sticker price is" for commodity goods.

The acceptance is when the cashier says "Okay, these goods for $X is fine, where's the money?"

The contract is then fulfilled by the customer handing over the money, and the cashier making the goods available to take away.

Any advertisement involved, including the price sticker, is technically an invitation to treat and does not by default form part of the contract. It may be included by reference as part of the offer, as is usual these days.

If the cashier does not accept the contract, there is no sale. The customer is not entitled to take the goods, and the cashier is not entitled to take the money.

Therefore, since the OP rejected the customer's offer to buy the furniture (as per store policy), the customer would technically have been stealing if he took it with him anyway. The fact that he might have left some money behind is immaterial - for example it does not necessarily correspond with the value of that particular item, which could have been different from the sticker price.

[Ree]

Wow...talk about complicated.

[Chromatix]

Now you know why lawyers charge so much. They have to think like that every day.

Contract law is a special case that I learned about in two different courses about a decade ago. It's something that nearly everyone should learn in at least some detail, and doubly so if they actually work in retail.

But most people learn the abbreviated version during childhood, which is sufficient for decent folk. You choose your goods, hand over your money, and it's yours. Don't hand over your money, and it isn't yours - and common courtesy takes care of the case when the current owner doesn't want to sell it.

[Gabrielle Proctor]

Well, happy birthday! Hope it was/is a ton of fun!

I think it's awesome that you flat-out told him what you thought about his prorastination.

[Polenicus]

I can understand why you wouldn't sell the display, but I don't understand how it would be stealing if he was willing to pay for it, just because you told him you wouldn't sell it to him and he insisted on taking it?


As long as money changes hands, I don't understand the "theft" angle of it.

Other than that, yeah, poor planning and sucky attitude.

Let's put it this way.

someone walks into your house, and picks up your dog, and tells you that they are buying your dog. You tell them, in no uncertain terms, that you are not selling your dog. they inform you that they are taking it anyway. They place a sum on the table that would be roughly equivalent to what they would pay for said breed of dog, and force their way outside carrying it, and leave.

Now, because they left money for the dog, does that mean that they didn't steal it? Of course not... you had no intention of selling your dog, and informed them of such.

The same goes for a store. The display model in a sotre is the store's property. They own it. Regardless of whether it's a store or not, the same rules apply: They don't have to sell something if they don't want to. Even if it WASN'T a display, at any time they can refuse to sell you anything for ANY REASON, because up until they ACCEPT payment and deliver it to you, it remains their property.

[Crazeyal]

Wow...talk about complicated.

Not really. No.

The store sells fold-away beds. There is a 3 - 4 business day delivery time that MUST be accepted by the customer. The customer refused. The customer then tried to take the display model, WHICH WAS NOT FOR SALE.

Plenty of companies NEVER sell display models, and either disburse the merchandise internally, or sell it to a reseller. They don't want the liability/lowered profit/returns for "new" merchandise that come with such sales.

[Ree]

someone walks into your house, and picks up your dog, and tells you that they are buying your dog. You tell them, in no uncertain terms, that you are not selling your dog. they inform you that they are taking it anyway. They place a sum on the table that would be roughly equivalent to what they would pay for said breed of dog, and force their way outside carrying it, and leave.

Not a great analogy.

I am not in the business of selling pets, so that would be very bizarre if someone insisted on taking my dog from my home and leaving money for it. Kusanagi's store is in the business of selling sofabeds, but do not sell the display units for whatever reason.

Plenty of companies NEVER sell display models, and either disburse the merchandise internally, or sell it to a reseller. They don't want the liability/lowered profit/returns for "new" merchandise that come with such sales.

Again, I understand why the store would not sell the display. I was not referring to that situation as being complicated. (I work retail, and have for 30 years, so I understand the concept of not selling a display unit, although our store will sell displays, and in this situation, would probably have sold the display with no hesitation. I get that part of the whole scenario and am not questioning why he wouldn't sell the display at all, though.)

I was talking about how a customer insisting on buying a display model that was not for sale translated into theft, rather than just a situation of someone being an ass.
That's the part that seems very complicated.