As the saying goes, "I might have been born at night, but it wasn't last night." With over 20 years of listening to excuses, we just don't want or need the hassle any more. The following are true stories.
The "We only need it for a few minutes" excuse - AKA Little Indian Boy
The mother and grandmother of a little boy came into the store looking for a Native American costume for the child who is not with them. They asked for something very elaborate at a cut rate price. (Doesn't everyone want the new Beamer at the used VW Bug price?) I showed them everything from the Rental @ $15 to the regular priced packaged costumes to the close outs. I even showed them the accessories if they just wanted to dress up something else. During all of this, they kept saying "That's just to much money for just a few minutes." and finally admitted that they only wanted to dress the boy up for a photo on a horse. After a while, the ladies wandered off to the back corner of the store and whispered to each other for a few minutes. Then they selected the most expensive packaged costume and brought it to the check out. As I start to ring up their purchase, the mother asked, "Now, if this doesn't fit, I can bring it back for a full refund, right?" I shook my head and pointed to the "All Sales Final" sign behind me. What I really WANTED to say was "NO! Because you're going to bring it back stinking like a HORSE after you use it for the photo."
A mother of two girls came in looking for 50's outfits for her daughters to wear to a school 'Decades Day' or 'Sock Hop' function. She looked around for a bit. She said there are way to many choices and she couldn't decide which ones her girls would like or which ones would fit best. Finally, she said, "I'm just going go ahead and buy six of these. That way the girls can have three choices each and I can just return the ones they don't like in a few days." I explained that we don't give refunds and suggested that she bring the girls in to let them select and try on costumes. The woman replied "But I don't want to make two trips." I responded "You would have to make a second trip to return the costumes and the girls might not like any of these. If you bring them, they can choose for themselves and everyone is happy." She left in a huff. I didn't even mention that I knew she was going to let her girls play in the dresses for days and/or switch the accessories around, wear whatever pieces they liked to school then return them all for a full refund, most likely in mixed up in torn packages.
The "It's against dress code" excuse - AKA Don't Give Your Child Money
A young lady from the middle school which used to be across the street came in alone one day after school. She said that she was going to a school dance and her mother had sent her the money to buy the costume she looked at the week before. She went directly to the shelf, selected a popular Belly Dancer / Genie costume, paid for her outfit in cash, received her change and package then happily walked home. All in all, she was very polite and business like.
A couple of hours later, we got the phone call from the irate mother. Apparently, the mother had come home and caught the girl "Dancing around her room in the costume" which obviously disturbed the woman. She started screaming at us that the costume did not meet school dress code standards and that she had refused to buy it for her daughter the week before. She demanded a refund. We told her to bring the costume back and we would take care of it. The mother didn't return the costume the same day. It was few days later when she showed up with the obviously worn costume in the plastic bag with no picture in the front. We told her that the best we could do was give her half price credit on another outfit. Naturally, she was angry with us for selling the costume to the child and we did feel sorry for her. However, we explained that she already told us the child had worn it. We did not mention the fact that she had time to wear it to the dance as well as just playing in her room. Also, that without a picture in the package, we would most likely never sell it, the best we could do would be to put it in the Clearance and hope for the best. Half Price. She argued but finally took the deal and got another costume, with stern warnings that we WOULD NOT take that one back. The used Genie ended up in a donate to charity box.
AKA - "If I keep yelling, you'll give in." AKA - "Use it, take it back and get another one."
Naturally, we don't really know what happened between this mother and daughter, but the story also illustrates the issue we have with people who make up false 'laws' to try to threaten us, or just flat out think that they can intimidate us by yelling a lot. This mom accused us of "Unfair business practices" because we sold a costume to a minor. I have no idea where she came up with that one. I've never heard of a store who refused to sell an item to a minor. (Other than alcohol or tobacco, etc.) Many parents send their children to run errands. We have no way of knowing if the mother and/or the daughter cooked up a way to get one costume for the dance, return it and get a free one for Halloween. Or did the mom give the child money to buy a more appropriate costume, and the girl seized the opportunity to buy the one she wanted without her mother's consent?
In my personal experience, a very dear friend of mine ran an out door event that lasted a few weeks. He would buy a lot of box fans from Walmart to keep the workers cool. He made sure that all the boxes were kept clean and that all the little 'feet' on the fans were safe. Within 30 days, he would box up all the fans, take them and the receipt back to the store for a full refund. Basically, he stole the use of the fans and he did this multiple times over the years. I never said anything about that unfair practice and possibly now Karma is coming back to me.... or maybe it just taught me that even good people do bad things if they can get away with it.
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