I've been watching too much "House MD"

[smileyeagle1021]

< 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 is so not where I thought that was going... but Smiley approves

[Firecracker]

Oh wow. That gave me a really good laugh. I loved your responses. That was indeed a ignorant fool.

[Canarr]

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?"

Actually, it's the other way around: the offer is made by the store, through the simple fact of placing the merchandise within a publicly available location and marking it with a price.

The acceptance is when the customer picks up the merchandise (or some form of representation, like a tag, for items too large to move). The contract is then finalized when the merchandise is presented to a cashier and money exchanges hands.

Displays are a special case, of course; most furniture stores that I know of sell their "new" items first, and only offer the displays when the item is discontinued, or as a special consideration. However, those stores tend to put up a sign "displays not for sale" or someting similar.

Stores offer goods to make money. It's their purpose. Thus (as Ree correctly pointed out), the analogy with the dog is not applicable. Similarly, if I am at someone's private home, and offered a drink, I would not expect to be charged a price for it afterwards (unlike at, say, a restaurant), but I also wouldn't order one if nobody offered. However, if I came into a bookstore, I would expect to be able to buy any of the books I find on the shelves, and might be annoyed if I were told that for some reason, one of them wasn't on sale.

That doesn't change the fact that shopping for a bed the day before your guest arrives (on a holiday) is definitely dumb as hell. And demanding help to fix the problems your own laziness has caused, is sucky to boot.

[snackbandit]

After we all finish BAWWWWING about MY DEFINITION OF STEALING IS MORE LOGICAL/LEGALLY CORRECT/MORALLY CORRECT/SOUNDS MORE OFFICIAL, I think in the end that we all can agree this guy was an asshat.

[Nurian]

After we all finish BAWWWWING about MY DEFINITION OF STEALING IS MORE LOGICAL/LEGALLY CORRECT/MORALLY CORRECT/SOUNDS MORE OFFICIAL, I think in the end that we all can agree this guy was an asshat.

True. The only time I ever got the floor model was when something was completely out of stock and the store was not going to buy anymore. It's how I got this computer

[depechemodefan]

I can imagine why he didn't get the sofabed 3 weeks ago. Either the sister is a hubitual spaz and might call the night before she arrives to cancel to come over, meaning the guy has a sofabed for no good reason (though if he didn't take it out of the box, he should have no reason to return it). Or he had to set up the sofabed in his den or somewhere inconvienent, and he didnt' want to set it up until the last min. Personally, I think he just procastinated.

You should have suggested he should have gone to Goodwill or Salvation Army. they sell furniture already assembled, and they will help you load up. Though a Tercel is a bad idea.

[Hobbs]

SC: This is completely unnacceptable. I told you there would be consequences.

...and this is why i have Veritas and Aequitas written on my hands when i go to work (air force won't let me get tattoos)

[froglet]

I can imagine why he didn't get the sofabed 3 weeks ago. Either the sister is a hubitual spaz and might call the night before she arrives to cancel to come over, meaning the guy has a sofabed for no good reason (though if he didn't take it out of the box, he should have no reason to return it). Or he had to set up the sofabed in his den or somewhere inconvienent, and he didnt' want to set it up until the last min. Personally, I think he just procastinated.

In that case, he should have at least tried to arrange to have it delivered on the day before Thanksgiving, and asked if he could cancel up until its delivered, without charge/for a full refund.

[Crazeyal]

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.

You point at something.

You say "I want that!"

You are told "That is not for sale."

You throw down money and proceed to take it.

You are told it is NOT FOR SALE and to not attempt to leave with the merchandise, as it would be stealing.

You inform the shop keeper that you have already purchased it, and there is no arguing the point.

You get the merchandise out the door and are promptly detained and arrested when the shop owner presses charges.

Seems pretty straight-forward to me.

[Becks]

If it were me, I'd just buy a futon.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Frankly, I oculdn't care less about the whole legality of what the customer pulled. All that really matters is he was a complete fucktrumpet who's lucky he wasn't tossed out of the store through the plate-glass window.

[powerboy]

That guy is an asshat. The guy is in the wrong for insisting that he was going to take the sofa no matter what.

[Kusanagi]

To clarify:

He would be stealing it because I told him I wouldn't sell it to him. If I refuse to do a transaction with him and he actually removes something from my store, it IS stealing, REGARDLESS OF IF HE LEAVES MONEY OR NOT.

If I tell him I refuse to do business with him and won't sell the couch to him, if he insists on leaving money at that point it's either charitable contribution or stupidity. The law backs me up on this. There's no other justification needed.

It would be illegal for me to sell the display model due to bait and switch laws. I cannot sell it to him, I told him as such, therefore because I told him no transaction would take place, however much money he decides to leave is no longer an issue, because there was no contract and there was no transaction. Only him walking out with the sofa would be. Which is theft.

[bainsidhe]

I don't know much about Ikea, but your local Wal-Mart will sell air matresses. They're certainly a hell of a lot more portable than a futon with no assembly required