Tax Tantrum

[Samaliel]

Then again, someone said (allegedly, it was Ben Franklin, if I remember correctly) that nothing in this world is certain but death and taxes. If she won't have the latter, could she please do us all a favor and pick the former ?

[Aramika]

But yes, advertising something at "$XX.99!" is dumb. I read somewhere that that is a mind-game tactic to make people think they're spending less than if they buy something priced at an even dollar amount.

It definitely is. Whenever I go shopping with a certain friend of mine, and we are looking at clothes, shoes, whatever, she will ALWAYS look at the price and say, "I'm getting this, it's only [amount minus the $.99 cents printed on the price tag)". Every time, I say, "No, it's [amount plus $.01]." I've tried explaining it to her, but she just doesn't get it.


And I am seriously wondering where the lady in the OP has been all her life to not know about paying taxes.

[draftermatt]

In Pennsylvania (near Ohio) there is no sales tax on some things. I think it's mainly clothes and shoes, but meh.

In Delaware I don't think there is any sales tax, mainly because there are numerous corporations headed in Delaware (Dupont is one) and the corp. taxes cover the people too.

[Peppergirl]

The op is in the same area as me, and we border Kentucky and Indiana. Both of those states have sales tax on everything, to my knowledge.

She must have been from a far away state, like another PLANET.

[xaenon]

The OP must have some kind of patience. After a couple minutes of her whining about taxes, I would've told her to STFU and told the sales guy to ring me up.

Heh. Patience? ME? Not so much. It was that 'train wreck' syndrome. You can't look away. You want to look away, you know you SHOULD look away, but you can't.

I can't really say for sure if it was amusement at her tragic loss of self-control, or just my lack of comprehension on just HOW she could be as old as she looked and not know about sales tax. Granted, yes, there are states that don't have it, but surely she must have heard at some point in her life that mysterious, distant lands like Ohio had such a thing? Even if, through some miracle of utter isolation, she really DIDN'T know that sales tax existed, seems to me that if the clerk says it's so, you should probably take him at his word.

The thought occurred to me, too, that perhaps she thought that by feigning ignorance, somehow she wouldn't have to pay the tax? Or maybe by being belligerent she could somehow brow-beat the salesman into not collecting the tax?

Whatever her cerebral malfunction was, this incident has been classified as FAIL in my book.

[xaenon]

The op is in the same area as me, and we border Kentucky and Indiana. Both of those states have sales tax on everything, to my knowledge.

She must have been from a far away state, like another PLANET.

Another planet, indeed. The planet FAIL. In the FAIL solar system. In the parallel dimension of FAIL.

Oh, and by the way - they jerked the self-checkouts from the Wally Worlds in Sharonville. Milford, and Amelia. Haven't been in Eastgate in a while (ironically, the closest one to where I live) , but probably there, too. Guess it's dead, buried, and soon to be forgotten.

[mariamousie1]

I have never understood why people who scream, swear, and SPIT think "I'm never shopping here again!!!" is actually a threat.

[cinema guy]

But yes, advertising something at "$XX.99!" is dumb. I read somewhere that that is a mind-game tactic to make people think they're spending less than if they buy something priced at an even dollar amount.

Things are pretty much always priced that way here in the UK.

[marasbaras]

There is some fail on the part of the salesman here, too. After a few minutes of this, he should've suggested that she think about it and helped the other waiting customers.

[xaenon]

There is some fail on the part of the salesman here, too. After a few minutes of this, he should've suggested that she think about it and helped the other waiting customers.

Nah. He's a good kid. Intelligent, helpful, knows about the stuff he sells. And I have serious doubts that any such suggestion would have been well-received by Idiot Woman, who was already well on her way to a thermonuclear meltdown.
"Think" would have been impossible for her, in my opinion.

Besides, I *DO* enjoy a public spectacle.....

[Chromatix]

In Britain and Europe, it's the law that the advertised price must either include VAT, or be clearly marked as excluding it. The latter is common for publications that get a lot of professional readers (ie. computer magazines), but even these often include the VAT price.

If you walk into a shop and pick something off the shelf, the price on the sticker is what you pay.

[RetailWorkhorse]

Someone screamed bloody murder at me once for, GASP, having tax on the NEWSPAPER.

Because it's ILLEGAL to have taxes on a newspaper, after all.

I told him there was nothing I could about it and if he didn't want the paper he could stop yelling at me and leave.

He bought the stupid paper.