It's that very special time of year.

It's sidewalk sale time again!  We haul unsold clearance, scratch-n-dent, and old merchandising merch, out onto the pavement and let people paw for deals.  Every year that I've worked, the long term employees say that this is their least favorite sale.  I never really had a problem with it until this year.  Now I say it too:  I hate sidewalk sale.  I was trying to explain to my boyfriend what makes this sale and these customers worse than any other sale shoppers or hagglers.  Here's one example of a typical transaction:

I sold a customer a tray from the sidewalk.  It was properly labeled with price tags, on the correct rack, and in great condition.  Before purchasing it, the customer asked me the cost of the tray.  I want to state that I am perfectly fine with people asking the price of items.  In fact, with this sale, I have gotten in the habit of saying aloud the price of the item as I ring it up, so that they know that I know it is on sale.  So, customer asked the price of the tray and I told her.  She said ok, paid, and requested to have it double bagged.  Done.  Right?  Nope.

As I was coming back from lunch, I saw the tray customer at the counter with 2 of my co-workers.  The tray and the receipt were out.  There looked to be a lot of talking.  I ducked around the corner to eavesdrop.  To my horror, but not surprise, the customer claiming confusion and that I didn't tell her the price when she was buying it.  That sneaky bitch! Fishing for a deeper discount.

These tricks pulled by sale customers are universal.   I forget sometimes.  It is not one or two contentious jerks to deal with, but a whole day of people who think that but having a bad attitude and playing stupid, they will get an even better deal.  How could you even enjoy a purchase if the whining, lies and "confusion" did work?   "Isn't this tray great?  It was 75% percent off, so I snatched it up and paid for it.  THEN I went back later and told them that the girl who rang me up mislead me, so they gave me an extra 10% off the $34.99 sale price!!"  Gross.  You're probably a hoarder too.

As I was closing the store yesterday, I thought about how beautiful and dignified it is to buy something at full price.

Do you like to read about sales?  Hmm, do you?