rant

It has been awhile since I've ranted on anything, but this really rubbed me the wrong way.

The other day, I went to the bookstore to pick up a book for a friend.

You should know that the book I went to purchase was sort of a collector's item.

I asked a store clerk to show me where I could find the book and he kindly showed me where it was.

On the shelf, there was a nicely shrink wrapped copy and one that was unwrapped for people to browse through.

I picked up the shrink wrapped copy and proceeded to the cashier.

The cashier took out a sheet of paper that is often found inside all books in Japan and then without asking, thinking she was doing me a favor and giving me good customer service, she ripped through the shrink wrap!

I gasped! (because I knew having the shrink wrap undone lessens the value of the collector's item)

She stopped mid-way and said, "but don't you want a cover?"

I said, "actually I was planning to give this away"

She said, "oh, so you wanted it gift wrapped?"

I said, "um no, actually I wanted to keep it shrink wrapped"

Then she gasped and apologized and proceeded back to the shelf to get a newly shrink wrapped copy, only there were no others.

She then ran to the backroom (where I think she re-shrink wrapped the book), and came out with a shrink wrapped copy.

Most times, before you even have a chance to say anything, most of these clerks do things without asking, assuming that it is what you want.

I don't know, to me, it is more of an inconvenience rather than good customer service.

Hope you have a good week!