House of Magick Man (long)

[B&NGoddess]

first a little background on this chump. He comes in on a regular basis to buy "metaphysical" materials for his own store, the House of Magick. Let's call him John. Scrawny white guy, late 30s, early 40s, doo rag and sunglasses inside. Biker-esque. He once monopolized my time for an hour while i hunted down the list of 52 books he wanted. He thinks he's tax exempt. He's not. He brings in his sellers permit or some other thing that's an application for tax exempt status, not the actual tax exempt form itself. He does this every time he comes in. He's been told every time he comes in that his sellers permit does not equal tax exempt. he tells us to call his accountant to verify. Not our job, chief. bring in the correct paperwork every time you come in or you don't get tax exempt. end of story.

on occasion, we'll give in, mostly to shut his ass up and get him out of the store. Well, yesterday he rolls in and tries the same shit. says he was just up the street and decided to come in so he doesn't have any paperwork. must we go through this again? Our headcashier goes over the deal with him again, and John is getting louder and louder and yelling at HC and generally being a douchebag.

John goes out to his car and returns with some paperwork that doesn't count. HC says he's going to discuss this with the managers in the back office and he'll be back. John follows HC, yelling "you better not go anywhere with my papers!"

HC keeps going, not hearing him. i yell "yo, HC, don't go nowhere with his papers!"

HC says "im going to talk to my managers sir. i'm going to make a copy and get back to you, so please wait here."

"I better get my papers back!"

"Sir, you will get the papers you handed to me back as soon as i'm done."

We go into the office. John is right behind us and stops just short of the "employees only" line.

"Sir, this is employees only, you can't be here," HC says, and lets the door close on his ass. At this point, i'm cracking up.

HC talks it over with management, and decides that while the papers are not tax exempt forms, we'll do it this last time and he's not welcome back ever.

HC and i leave the office and John is waiting for HC at the door. John is continuing to argue with HC and is getting louder and louder.

"Sir, please stop yelling."

"RAR!" about something.

"Sir, if you don't stop yelling and making a scene i'm going to have to ask you to leave."

i walk past another customer, who says "what an idiot."

All three of us get to the registers and HC starts ringing him up. John is still bitching, and i can see that HC has had enough.

"Sir, you will stop yelling. You are not getting tax exempt. You will pay for this book and you will leave."

"I buy a bajillion dollars in books here. You see this, everyone? I'm here all the time and they treat me like shit! I've been tax exempt at Borders and Half Price Books for eight years! Can your little brain understand that this is my tax exempt number? Huh? Can your pea brain think about that?"

"Sir, my pea brain will think whatever it wants to think, but your pea brain is going to pay $29.52 and leave."

i have to turn away because im laughing so hard.

so John pays for his book and continues his tirade on the way out. "I hope you know that you're going to lose your job over this! I can write a letter like you wouldn't believe! You're going to get fired over $1.43!"

"That's fine sir. Do what you want. I've got other customers. Have a good day, sir."

"Well, you're not a sir, you're a miss! I hope you don't have a good day miss! You're getting fired!"

"Okay, my name's Head Cashier (but gave his real name). Have a good day. Happy Holidays!"

the other 20 odd customers that witnessed this fiasco are all behind HC.

5 minutes after John left, our info girl gets a call. "You tell that Head Cashier that i belong to the most dangerous motorcycle gang in the city and that he better watch out!"

IG has no idea what this is all about and finds the managers, myself and HC in the office discussing what happened. IG explains the phone call. Manager calls the police.

In the end, John is now banned. if he comes in the store again, he will be arrested for trespassing.

what a... grr. why make a threat like that when we have your name, phone number and address from all the times you've ordered from us? are you stupid? nevermind, don't answer that.

[Seanette]

Let's see, this brain donor had another customer openly ridiculing him, got himself banned from the store, and got a complaint against him filed with the police, all over $1.43?

WHO is the pea-brain here again?

I know, I know, don't insult those cute little round tasty green things by claiming they're as dumb as this bozo.

[pbmods]

I imagine that this depends on the state, but in Michigan, as long as you can provide your sales tax permit, you can get tax exempt as long as you're buying it for resale.

At least, that's been my experience with distributors. I've never actually tried to get tax-exempt at a retail store before.

[Crosshair]

At my store, no tax exempt slip = No tax exemption. Simple as that. Managers back us up on that one too.

[Dips]

The customer who gave me the most grief about providing a tax-exempt form was an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Yes. The entity which had imposed the requirements for tax-exempt sales was trying to get around them.

Our accountant HATES dealing with state sales tax and tax-exempt forms with a passion. She was downright gleeful in her insistence that the state follow their own rules.

And they eventually did.

[Giggle Goose]

"Well, you're not a sir, you're a miss! I hope you don't have a good day miss! You're getting fired!"

I almost broke rule #1 there. For some reason, that just struck me as very funny. What a moron, he sounds like he's in kindergarten.

Have you ever been to this guy's said "House of Magick?" What's it like?

[Cia]

I found out the fastest way to get a copy of their sales tax exempt certificate is to charge them the sales tax. Works everytime. The only exception so far has been the Minnehaha County Jail - dumbass refused to send me their number - <whiney asshole voice> "We are a county entity so I don't have too". Thbbbbt to you too.

But I love shooting down the people who are sales tax exempt when they call up to complain about being charged use tax and contractor's excise tax. No one is exempt from us charging those taxes. And if they still complain I tell them to call the Revenue Dept in Rapid or Pierre. They can be use tax exempt if they have the certificate and it's their own people installing owner owned material but if we install the owner owned material we have to pay and get to charge use tax.

Can you tell that I've called the Revenue Dept multiple times?

[B&NGoddess]

At my store, no tax exempt slip = No tax exemption. Simple as that. Managers back us up on that one too.

exactly. also, ive never been to his house o' magick, but a few of us were jokingly taking about goin down there to wreak havoc. not to cause bodily harm or anything, but just to be annoying assholes like himself. apparently, he sells "metaphysical" stuff, books on hypnosis, palm reading, all that new age-y stuff, etc.

and according to my mom who deals with this type of thing, she says that he cant buy things tax exempt and then turn around and sell it with tax to someone else. that's like profiting off of taxes or something. i dunno for sure. right now, im kinda concerned about HC, since he didn't meet me for lunch yesterday and hasn't returned my messages.

[wagegoth]

and according to my mom who deals with this type of thing, she says that he cant buy things tax exempt and then turn around and sell it with tax to someone else. that's like profiting off of taxes or something.

Actually, if he collects taxes those taxes are turned over to the appropriate tax agency, so he doesn't profit at all from them. Taxes are not charged by wholesalers selling to retailers because the wholesaler would collect the taxes and the retailer would not. The state gets more money collecting taxes when a retailer sells the goods to the public (at retail prices) than from a wholesaler. And the retailer would be out the tax money (unless the retailer increased the price of the goods by the amount of the taxes).

[Strange Magic]

Anybody that announces he's part of the "most dangerous motorcycle gangs in the city" is full of shit and still in the poser phase of his life.
The real bad asses just keep it to themselves then unload on you then walk away like nothing happened.

[Maevis]

I'm confused...

This man is buying books at retail price (sans the tax when he can) so that he can re-sell the same books at his store?

/baffled

If a few dollars in taxes make him flip out, why isn't he buying wholesale?
(aside from the possiblity that the wholesalers have already kicked him to the curb)

[B&NGoddess]

Actually, if he collects taxes those taxes are turned over to the appropriate tax agency, so he doesn't profit at all from them. Taxes are not charged by wholesalers selling to retailers because the wholesaler would collect the taxes and the retailer would not. The state gets more money collecting taxes when a retailer sells the goods to the public (at retail prices) than from a wholesaler. And the retailer would be out the tax money (unless the retailer increased the price of the goods by the amount of the taxes).

i think i see. but we're not a wholesaler. does that make a difference?

also, HC is fine. he was just being lazy.