Difficult Concepts

We don't mind if people want to take a quick browse through a book to see if it's what they want. We encourage it normally. I'm not sure this woman understood the concept of a quick look....

After the woman has sat down and been reading a local history book for about half an hour she pulls out a pad of paper and starts making notes from the book.

Me: Can I ring that through for you?
Customer: Oh. I don't want to buy it. I'm just going to read it and take notes.
Me: I'm afraid that's really not appropriate. These books are for sale. If you want to take a look through quickly to see if it's what you're looking for that's ok, but this is not really what a store is meant for.
Customer: But I just want the information.
Me: And the author just wants to be paid for doing all the work to get that information and put it into a book for you to read.
Customer: Well it's not like I'm hurting it.
Me: You are however using it. Therefore it gets Used. We don't sell Used books. I'm sure that the library has a copy that you can borrow.



Try this experiment:
Go to your local department store and take a hair brush off the shelf and start doing your hair up. See how long it takes for someone to tell you you have to buy the products, you can't just use them and put them back. Tell them you're not hurting it. See how long it takes for security to arrive.