Another Liar

[Mark Healey]

I receive a call on monday from an old guy who wants to sell some John M(a?)cDonald paperbacks. I tell him we'd give him a buck a piece for the ones that are in good shape. He say that they are all in good shape.

Yesterday he brings them in (loose in a plasitc bag, I've posted my theory on how the container telegraphs the quality of the books previously). The boss was at the counter with me and we both are trying to weasle out of dealing with this guy and foist hm on the other, while not letting this guy know what was going on. With him being the boss and me being the employee, guess who had to deal with the guy.

Well, the vast majority of them were beat to hell, creased spines and covers, covers partially torn off and a lot of general wear. I pick out the five (out of about 50) that are sellable and offer him the five dollars. He gets pissed, grabs the five that I wanted, puts them into the bag and storms out.

As soon as he is out the door the boss says something to the effect of "I knew that was going to happen.". I reply with something like "He told me that they were in good shape on the phone. He's got no grounds to get pissed about when I go by what I see instead of what he told me." and the boss snickers.

About 20 minutes later he calls and the boss picks up. The same guy starts to rant and the boss hangs up. I wish I'd answered because I believe a good portion of SC are S is because they get no feedback and just don't know any better.

[Becks]

Wow. You crippled the selfesteem of 45 books.

[Knightmare]

A book may be missing a cover, bent or broken spine, dog eared to hell....
but I'll still read it!

Unless it's a romance novel.

[Mark Healey]

A book may be missing a cover, bent or broken spine, dog eared to hell....
but I'll still read it!

But would you pay half cover for it?

[Jazz]

You mean, the guy didn't even bother to duct tape the ones that were ripped and try to sell you that?

I saw someone do that once at a used bookstore and claim it was in good condition. Apparently, put together by duct tape is considered good condition in some households.

[Imogene]

A book may be missing a cover, bent or broken spine, dog eared to hell....
but I'll still read it!

Unless it's a romance novel.

If you read the notification inside the first few pages of most paperback books, there is a warning that says something to the tune of: If this book has its cover torn off, let it be known that it was in fact discarded, and may have been stolen.

[Primer]

A book may be missing a cover, bent or broken spine, dog eared to hell....
but I'll still read it!

Unless it's a romance novel.

If you read the notification inside the first few pages of most paperback books, there is a warning that says something to the tune of: If this book has its cover torn off, let it be known that it was in fact discarded, and may have been stolen.

I agree with Knightmare--I don't read romance novels.

Back in thebookstore days, I was occasionally one of the "lucky" slaves that got to strip the covers off the paperbacks that were being returned to the publisher. Actually, only the front cover got returned, the rest of the book was tossed in the dumpster. Most of our managers turned a blind eye, and let us raid the stripped books and take what we wanted for free before dumping the rest. However, all stripped books had to be off the property that day--any found on site the next morning would get dumped.

While I would never PAY for a book missing its cover, that sure would not keep me from reading it!

[Antisocial_Worker]

I agree with Knightmare--I don't read romance novels.

Back in thebookstore days, I was occasionally one of the "lucky" slaves that got to strip the covers off the paperbacks that were being returned to the publisher. Actually, only the front cover got returned, the rest of the book was tossed in the dumpster.

I always hated that part of the job... I felt guilty for wasting so much paper.

[pbmods]

I always hated that part of the job... I felt guilty for wasting so much paper.

While the store is required by [contract? law?] to destroy claimed merchandise, I have found that my employer (at least) doesn't seem to be too picky about how we discard of merchandise so long as it does get discarded. So cameras and film get sent back to Kodak for recycling, batteries get recycled, books & magazines get recycled, etc.

Everything else, we determine whether we want to just expense it for store use, or else it goes in the shredder.

It seems a huge waste, but without it you get employees who will purposely damage merchandise to get a discount/freebie.