Borders' Staff Gave Me Extra Discounts

On the 3rd day of CNY, I decided to ignore the old folks' comments that one should not go to books stores to buy books (shue, in Cantonese sounds like "loose" as in loose money) if one wants to gamble during the new year and win money. Took the Monorail to Berjaya Times Square and headed straight for Borders.

I like shopping at Borders Book Store as their selection is rather wide and I simply love their Bargain Corner plus their special promotions. They were having the 3 books for the price of 2 promotions and I simply could not resist picking up several. After spending almost close to an hour browsing and selecting, I decided to make for the counter to pay for the books as I only had about 30mins left to get home as my brother was going to belanja (pay for) dinner at Klang that evening (read previous post).

I already did a mental calculation as to how much I am going to have to pay for all those lovely books and it should be around RM210, plus minus RM1. When the cashier was scanning in the books, I realize that she was likely to make a mistake as she totally ignored the fact that some of the books were under the 3 for the price of 2 promotion. When the final amount was tabulated, she asked for RM248.90. I knew that could not be right. So, I politely asked if she could print out the bill so that I could check it. She curtly replied "Cannot" and she called her colleague over. I tried to ask her colleague if I could have a look at the bill first before I paid for the books and he replied (at least a little bit more politely) that they don't do that for the customers. Customers only get to look at the bill after they have paid for the books. Alamak.... how can that be right?

So, I asked if I could borrow a calculator. They were both ignoring me this time as they were busy taking all my books out of the plastic bag. I noticed that they were scrolling the bill out of the cashier's machine and checking it against the books. They must have realized that they did something wrong. I decided to fish out my mobile phone and using the calculator function, I managed to determine that the cost of the books should total RM207.80 exactly.

When the two of them finally finished re-keying in the cost of the books, the value came out to RM204.90. Yikes.. how come? So I asked them if they were sure?? I can check for them. This time all I got were blank stares. Sigh...so, what to do.. cough out the RM204.90 and the get the bill first after paying then only check lor. By then, I have already spent a good 10 minutes at the counter and I had only 20minutes to get up the Monorail to get home on time.

When I got home, I found out where the problem was. I bought 2 lots of the "special 3 books for the price of 2". The sticker clearer stated that one can buy 3 books from a collection, and the cheapest book out of the 3 selected will be given free. The mistake of the cashier was billing me for all 3 books from the 1st lot ... no free book from this lot. But for the other lot (which was more expensive), she billed me for 1 book and gave me 2 books for free...yeah..

So, all I have to say is "Thank you Borders for the angpow of RM2.90... which is the difference of what I would have had to pay if your staff had been nicer and more responsive to your customers". Kong Xi Fa Cai!