[Jeff Higgins]

Return 'em. No question about it. You paid for undamaged goods, you have every right to expect to receive them undamaged.

My wife and kids keep telling me I'm from "another place and time", or a "bygone era". Two examples from just this week:

I went into a Big 5 sporting goods to buy shoes. Kind of an odd time of day, so I was one of two customers in the whole store. I went straight to the back, right past the guy at the checkout (said "hi" to him as I passed). Walked right past a guy assembling an exercise bike (said "hi" to him, too). As I was standing there looking at shoes, the third employee on duty walked out of the back room with some tools in his hands, right past me. Said "hi" to him, too. So I'm in the store, one of only two customers, looking at shoes. All they have out are display models; if I want a pair they have to come from the back room. I continually step into the aisle where all three can see me, making the "are you gonna help me?" eye contact and expectant (you know; palms up, kind of towards yourself) gestures. No help. So I head to the two working on the bike. "We're trying to get this bike together, just a minute..." So I head home. Wrote a letter to Big 5. Wife and kids say "dad, it's not worth it..." Bull*****. It is to me.

Second episode. Bought a new Grateful Dead CD at Starbucks on the way to work. Disc one had a big old scratch right through "Sugar Magnolia". So I stop on the way home and try to exchange it. "We don't do that, sir. How do we know you didn't scratch it? How do we know you didn't rip it to your hard drive?" "Because I'm telling you I didn't. I'm not returning it, I'm asking for another one that is not scratched." "We still can't do that, sir. It is a manufacturer's defect. You will have to take it up with them." "Uh, no. I bought it here. You bought it from the manufacturer. I'm returning it where I bought it; you can do the same." "Well, no sir, as a matter of..." (Interupting him) "I would like the name and contact information of your regional manager, please." Guy take the CD, throws it in the trash, and tells me to pick a new one off the rack and to "have a nice day". My wife and kids told me that this guy probably thought I was a clueless middle-aged jerk. "No one returns CD's, dad. Ya know how many folks copy them and try to return them?" Well, I don't. I don't appreciate the insinuation that I do.

Seems like business today is done at the lowest common denominator, and people accept that. My wife and kids would ask me "geez, the CD's are good, why do you care about the cases?" Principle. Maybe I am from a bygone era. Not many seem to care about that anymore.