I have learned to never go to B & N with something specific in mind. I just browse and almost always find something that sparks my interest. Now if I want something specific - i.e. Life's Little Instruction Book Part 12 - well, I go to Amazon and happily order away......

BARNES AND NOBEL SUCKS DONKEY ASS!

RJ, you have found a friend

RJ, did ya really have to post two complaints about B&N? We heard you the first time.

maybe one was for Barnes and one was for Noble

Thank God this didn't happen to Sam Vaknin before he left. We would be reading about it the 100th time now.

Sorry about the 2nd post. I mistakenly thought the first one didn't go through... :-/

Hey, BN.com is not bad compared to their bricks-and-mortar stores. BN.com only sucks bad, while their retail stores are just god-awful.

how about leaving your house, then you can get the books the day you want them, and we won't have to read your complaints about slow delivery.

I am a B&N employee & I am personally sick and tired of hearing your damn complaints. I work for an awesome company-there are way too many books out there to physically carry in the store-we only have so much space, so we carry what's most popular. Anything else you might need, we can order, as long as it's in print-it only takes a couple days, and if it's not what you were looking for, you're not obligated to buy it. If your book is out of print, you can still get it on our website. I hate when you guys come in and get pissed cause your book isn't in stock, & you don't have time for us to order it cause you need it TODAY for school, or your book club, or your sister's birthday. If you knew you needed the damn book, you shouldn't have waited til the last minute! I see teachers do this all the time & it boggles my mind. If you're a procrastinator, you should be used to disappointment by now. WE'RE DOING THE BEST WE CAN! THE PUBLIC'S DEMANDS ARE VARIED AND PLENTIFUL & I THINK WE'RE DOING A COMMENDABLE JOB OF MEETING THEM!

I am ALSO an employee at B&N, and I will admit that the truth is inbetween. The ONLY reason why it's a good company to work for - i.e. Medical Care, paid sick days, etc... - is because they don't want their workers to unionize, ala Borders. Other than that, it suffers from ALL of the same faults as most corporations; slow to change, no one to take responsibility, a crushing heirarchy that squeezes the humanity out of its workers, and the store where I work specifically is a gynocratic dictatorship of oppression and nepotism.
Customers are perhaps the worst kind of human, and their requests are almost ALWAYS ridiculous, but unlike some corporations like Amazon.com, B&N suffers from "Old Decision Making Illness," otherwise known as ODMI. I am the ONLY employee (keep in mind, I'm at the lowest rung in the shit heep, and actually have a bachelor's degree), at my work that knows ANYTHING about computers. Our operating system is windows 9fucking5, and it takes longer to log into the computers than it does to read "War and Peace." As far as the ODMI goes, B&N is more interested in quarterly profits than in doing anything for the longterm, so all of its technology is out of date, its managers are out of date - as is their way of thinking - it takes WEEKS to get ordered items as opposed to a day or two and everything sells for retail.
I work there, and our 30% discount for employees means that stuff on Amazon.com is only SLIGHTLY cheaper! Don't mistake an easy work environment for a good one. B&N is a frustrating place to work, I can only imagine how painful it must be to shop there, especially with the kind of customer service that I see my fellow co-workers giving our customers. It's almost universally true that the employees with the WORST customer service skills are the ones that get promoted too.

Borders seems so much better run than B&N I can't understand how B&N manages to stay in business.

As for amazon.com - they are great in many ways, but wait until you have a non-standard customer support issue, and good luck.

Dave

I normally have mild disdain huge corporations and mega-stores and try and support mom-and-pop operations when I can, but I find myself really being won over by cheap, effective enterprisees like Amazon and Netflix.

I find that I save a LOT more money by ordering from Amazon or getting my movies through Netflix than I would by frequenting a brick-and-mortar store owned by friendly folks. I'll still go to the well-meaning bookstores if I need an obscure academic book or to browse and say hi or if I need an obscure foreign film at the art-house video store (although Netflix has an awesome foreign film selection), but I find that's much less frequent now that the evil corporations have made life so much easier for me.

That is all.

Same problem I ordered over 35 days ago and have had nothing but trouble. Never again. I will use Amazon.com from now on.

I must add myself to the list of bad experiences with Barnes and Noble. A few days ago, I was banned from ALL Barnes and Noble stores around the country (I have never heard of such a thing). The reason, I requested that Barnes and Noble clean their bathrooms so children and myself, do not get covered in feces and urine. My mistake is that I should have made my request anonymously. Live and learn. I then recieved a phone call from the District Manager who was absolutely rude to me on the phone and made false accusations that I was using Google.com to contact her employees. How this is done is not in my network of knowledge, plus I use a9.com for a search engine.
Most of the time, some the employees, who can tolerate the management, take out the trash from the Cafe and light up some weed. They also transact their drug deals in the process on their cell phones. Security is an absolute joke. I once saw a guy walk out with a $50.00 box of Godvia chocolates. I pointed it out and the management just shrugged. The security alarms go off all the time, but it's largely a joke. Everyone laughs because no one really cares.
I've decided to tell everyone I know to take their business to Barnes and Noble's competitors. They are sitting on their laurels and it's only a matter of time before they fall off their high horse. If you do wish to do business with them on a very brief basis, you can tolerate them, but if you wish to have a long term relationship with them, I suggest you find another supplier. Also, you're not buying "new" books at Barnes and Noble. Employees are allowed to take them home to read them after which they are put back on the shelf to sell. Coffee stains and other types of stains are not uncommon. During business hours, customers are allowed to browse and destroy and number of books they choose. There is no accountability among the management and they cover their tracks with lies and so forth.
If there's anything I've learned from dealing with Barnes and Noble is that they are not customer friendly and I should have stopped doing business with them years ago. Now that I am banned from all their stores, I intend to do just that. Don't bother buying a membership card for $25.00 it's not worth it. Don't bother getting their Mastercard because you must first be a member and your membership is automatically renewed once you get the credit card. Read the fine print. You will hear many good stories about Barnes and Noble, but in general you will hear more horror stories than good.
As with any advise, do your homework before taking mine seriously. You'll find that I am correct.

BARNES AND NOBLE IS NOT A GOOD PLACE TO WORK. THEY STEP ON THE NECKS OS THEIR WORKERS. THEY OFFER MEAGER INCREASES OF .25 AND .50 A YEAR. THERE IS A KNOWN THREAT OF TERMINATION IF THERE IS ANY MENTION OF TRYING TO FORM A UNION. I NO LONGER WORK FOR THEM AND I WILL NEVER SHOP IN ANY OF THEIR STORES EVER AGAIN!!!!

I don't work for Barnes and Noble buthave had mostly good experiences there. I'm not sure why people don't post the actual store where they had the problem instead of making general statements about a chain that covers the entire country.

I used to only go to independent bookstores, where the booksellers actually got to know the customers and would make intelligent recommendations (it's called "hand-selling" in the business), but both B&N and Borders have both squeezed most of these places out of business. If you want to support independents, go to booksense.com, and they will locate the nearest independent bookstore to you, which will sell you on-line whatever you're looking for. Unlike Amazon, booksense's money gets filtered back into your community. It's not as slick as Amazon and they don't offer as good of discounts, but the long-term benefits should make it worthwhile. John McNally (www.bookofralph.com)

I work for Barnes & Noble. As I have read some of your comments here, I find various bits and pieces laughable compared to the atrocious workplace that I knew as BEST BUY. Those of you that are employed at Barnes & Noble should quit and work for Best Buy for about 6 months. Only about 10% of you would last that long, and then even most of you would BEG for your jobs back at B&N. I have never dealt with customers worse than those at Best Buy. Trust me, go to Bestbuysux.org, and you will see what I am talking about. About 70% of the negative employee posts on that website are true. When I got the job at B&N, I was the happiest retail employee in the world. I've been there 2 years now, and still like the job.

All of which shows, YMMV (your mileage may vary) applies in any walk of life. I buy from anyone who has the book I'm after, and if I get great discounts online, it is offset by the need to wait for the book to be shipped to me.

Hand-selling, by the way, only works if you can find a philosophically-compatible bookseller. Try getting a lib-focused bookseller to recommend a good read by Ann Coulter, Bill Bennett or Frank Gaffney. Not gonna happen!

Barnes & Noble has air conditioning, books, and coffee, thats good enough for me.

I worked for Barnes and Noble for 21 years, and when my store was to close, first I was told that there would be full time jobs at other stores for all the lead booksellers[myself included], but 6 months later I was informed I could not work full time anymore and was strongly persuaded to take severance pay. I thought about that last year and 1/2 of the assistant manager niggling at me and writing me up about every trivial thing, and felt that I had been set up. What do you people think?

I also have worked for the company for about 6 years now. It has been a great company to work for while I attend school. I have worked for a few stores across California and have never had a problem with staff or managers. They have gone out of their way to work around my school schedule. . . maybe B&N are managed better on the West Coast?

As far as customers, every store I have worked for has gone out of its way to make customers happy so I am sorry for all of your bad experiences.

While I humbly respect the opinions of employees...
I am done with Barnes and Noble...hell Borders...
This little "credit card" promotion has irritated me to no end.
Every employee is set on "kill" and customer service has been deadly for the past two weeks.
As a teacher, i enjoy a 20% discount...which is much better than the card that is being "pushed."
After I have informed the employee that I enjoy a discount...I am treated to the same identical speech about how this card can ease my life and save me money- NO ONE IS LISTENING
Nice contest-to hell with customer service.....
Bye

I was practically attacked by an employee at exactly closing time as she demanded I pay for my books or put them down. I complained to the manager but he didn't seem to care. I'll take my money elsewhere

I worked at Barnes and Noble for years and it would have been a wonderful place to work if it were not for one thing: the customers.

BN emplpoyees are regularly threatened, cursed at and belittled by the customers. We have to clean up literal crap in the restrooms left by people who think it is funny to leave their bodily fluids on the floor (and in some cases, on the walls). We see people masturbating in the chairs and at the magazine stand and then when we dare to ask them to stop or kick them out, they get physical with us or at the very least, they threaten us upon leaving. There have been employees that have had their tires slashed or have had to file restraining orders against customers for having refused their romantic advances.

One comment to all of the parents out there: Barnes and Noble's childrens section is not a daycare. The number of times parents leave their 3-6 year old kids in the kids section and then leave the store to shop in the rest of the mall is unbelievable! Then when they come back to the store they get mad when they can't find their kid. If they can find their kid, they usually leave without buying anything, and they don't make Jr. clean up the huge mess he has made in the kids section.

By the way, there is a reason that the books you buy may have folded pages, marks, stains, etc. It's because when people walk into Barnes and Noble all of their manners fly right out the window. I would say that we are not a library, but most people treat library books better than they treat our books. People will highlight passages, fold pages over, use them as coasters, etc. and when we try to stop them, we get verbally abused by them.

As for staying past closing time, IT'S CLOSING TIME! What do you think that means?! Buy your crap or get out, don't wander around the store for another 10 minutes, or you're right, we won't be happy with you.

I realize there are employees at BN who may not have the best customer service skills, but you need to meet us at least a quarter of the way by being civil to us. I am sorry we don't have the rare, obscure, out of print, or wildly populare book that you want to give as a Christmas gift. Maybe if you had contacted us before December 23, we would have been able to get it for you.

From what I have read from most of the people above, I am sure that both myself and my co-workers are very happy to know that you will not be shopping at BN stores.

First: Maybe you should include states regions and stores with your complaints about B&N stores because you are basically all complaining about a place I have never seen and I shop the B&N in Gulfport, MS a lot. How long do books take to arrive? A week, tops unless it's out of print. How long does it take a small local store to locate an out of print book it doesn't have in stock? Yes, I KNOW that's "touche". If your complaints are against corporate sprawl versus local ownership/ workers rights, well, you may have something there, but I don't think calling it Barnes and Noble is actually calling the problem by its name. As for the B&N employees complaining about customers, hey, it's a rat race ain't it. The industrious, helpful rat who shows up to do his job and be helpful FOR the customer generally avoids the most bad attitude in any situation and doesn't get stomped on so much. I like having a lot of bookstores around and I like having Barnes and Noble be a choice. Let's not be provincial about our own particular store and call it "everystore" and lets not call a general strike in the name of union as an alibi for personal reasons. What ARE America's unions up to these days?

I totally agree with Noblewoman ...being a B&N employee myself the customers are mostly the people who cause the problems that are complained about...yes, it is the booksellers job to organize and clean and sell and cover shifts in other departments and greet every single customer at the door, and offer the membership card and find books that sometimes dont exist and listen to a customer sing a bit of a song and expect them to know what it is. So WE CANT BOW DOWN TO YOUR EVERY NEED CUSTOMERS! if the bathroom is a mess talk to the manager dont march to the front and berate and belittle the cashier we CANT CLEAN IT...we can call a manager (who you should have asked for to begin with) to assist you and believe it or not WE ARE PEOPLE and WE HAVE FEELINGS AND NEEDS AND WE ARE NOT JUST WORKING FOR OUR HEALTH WE NEED THE MONEY. Treat employees with a bit of respect for the service we give you and perhaps you will recieve the same for your service.

People who work (or have worked) for B&N and still claim that it is a great company baffle me to no end. I've worked for that God-awful hell-hole for 5 years because of the flexible schedule they've agreed to offer me. I must say that most places are not at all accommodating in that regard. But this is where the credits end. Sure, if you enjoy management (usually high-school drop-outs) treating you like crap on a daily basis, it might just be the place for you to work.There is the nifty little feature called pompously "We Listen" were you can talk to someone who cares. Sure they do! After you talk to them, you are labeled as a potential trouble-stirrer and face painful retaliation. And if someone is even thinking of posting after me that it is fully anonymous - don't think about it. I don't know how, maybe they record the conversation and then play it to the manager of the store in question for identification, but they find you out. Don't believe me - try for yourself. The last drop to my already overfilled bucket was a demand that I come to work and sit in the breakroom without clocking in until I am needed. Now, if there is an insult greater than paying you almost nothing for your time, it is paying you exactly nothing. Needless to say, I quit on the spot. Now I shop on Amazon. And, since I like to be fair to everyone, let me just add that a lot of B&N customers are uneducated, condescending bastards who seem to come to the bookstores because it makes them feel more intelligent to be around books. Therefore, if you are an intelligent, respectful person and get a not-exactly-excellent service, keep in mind that you are so rare an occurrence there the employees simply don't know what to make of you. Then again, they may be just plain dumb.

I'm not sure about B&N, but Borders' teacher discount is for CLASSROOM related items. Let me tell you, I bet 75% of the teacher discounts we give, are definitely not for the classroom. I've recently decided teachers are the worst kind of consumers out there because they EXPECT discounts, for a multitude of reasons: feel as their job is public service, low pay. I'm sorry, maybe you should have chosen a job that paid a bit more? Who told you to become a teacher for the greater good? And considering that teachers are the quickest to start berating, it's amazing they have managed to not get fired yet.

On another topic, of course the books aren't packed and perfectly new. The companies want their booksellers to be able to recommend titles so employees are allowed to checkout books, like a library. It would be great if a customer came into the store, said they wanted whatever title and just took the book. Our stores would remain clean and the books would be pristine. However, normal consumers would like to see what they're getting. Trying new authors means reading a few pages of the book before deciding to buy it. It's similar to that crazy idea of trying on the clothes. And by the way, if the book isn't in the condition it should be, Borders gives a 10% damaged discount or offers to order a new one in for you.

Last Monday, a woman came to me and asked "You guys had a book out downstairs in March. It had a yellow cover and the first chapter was really funny. Can you get that for me?" She then was annoyed by the fact that I (and every other bookseller/manager/cashier at work that day) had no freakin clue what book she was talking about. These situations are unfortunately very common, I get at least 2-3 a day. If you thought the first chapter of the yellow book was funny in March, why didn't you buy it then instead of waiting 7 months???

We make closing announcements at 10 till and on the hour (11PM). It has never been 11PM and our store is empty. You have to go tell people in person that the store is now closed and they must leave. It is only then that our customers start packing their laptops and their bags and then slowly walk their way down. And sadly, the worst is Friday night.

Of course all this is after working at Borders for close to 2 years and I can't wait to leave.

What is it like to work there exactly? I am thinking of applying to the one in Orlando, FL. I am hoping that I will be able to help customers find books, shelve books, and organize them instead of being a cashier. I am not a big fan of dealing with a customers money. But I guess if I have to do it I will but can you request other jobs to do around the bookstore instead of standing behind a cash register all day? Let me know thanks.

I'm glad I found this site, so that I can at least tell of my most recent incident at B&N at Wolfchase mall in Germantown, TN. My husband and I were passing thru and I needed a book. I entered the store (my first visit), and immediately saw a cashier to my left who had a customer at his register. There were five or six more registers (some with customers & some not). As the customer left, I approached the cashier only to ask a question. Before I could open my mouth, he rudely said "maam the line starts back there." (pointing past the other registers & he did not have anyone in his line, nor anyone waiting.) I proceeded to say that I only wanted to ask a question,and asked if he had a particular book in stock, and he "cut me off" again and said "the customer service desk is over there. I replied, "You do not have to be rude." He said, "I don't know every book that's carried in this store."

I went to the customer service desk and asked to speak with a manager. The gentleman there was very helpful in assisting me. He looked to see if the book that I had requested was in stock, but it wasn't. He offered to order it for me, but I needed it sooner.

The manager (Amanda) appeared. I told her what had happened. She apologized, but attempted to justify the cashier's actions. I was appalled.

I belong to a book club and we have purchased many books from B&N over the years, but not anymore. I will certainly inform the other members and ask them not to purchase from B&N and ask them to pass it along to other friends and family members.

Obviously B&N has forgotten good customer service. Amazon.com here I come!

I've worked for B&N for about 7 years now. At first it was a great place to work. We focused on our customers, my fellow employees were very knowledgable about a variety of genres, we were on the floor actually connecting with our customers and making recommendations, we had a great community relations program, our turnover was almost nil, and it seemed more like a community bookstore. Like a mom and pop place instead of a *corporate* place. We had lots of regulars that came in, and we knew most of our product.

Well that has since changed, has been changing for the last couple of years now. B&N has definitly lost sight of it's CORE business. Books! We are selling so much chotsky stuff that we have less room for BOOKS! And the people that we hire now? sheeesh. We used to hire people that LIKED books. KNEW authors, classics, etc. Now we just hire anyone off the street as long as thier available hours meet our requirements (or if they have worked in a cafe). Booksellers now can't just know books...they have to know how to make all the cafe drinks too. That's so that when the cafe people call in sick, they can pull the people from the bookfloor to cover in cafe. So now you know why there aren't many people on the bookfloor. Not to mention that they installed the customer service desk...so therefore the company thinks that people on the actual book floor are no longer necessary. So they cut the hours available for that. And lets not even get into the whole micro-managing thing. Do you know that they (corporate) have actually TIMED what they think is the proper time it takes to unpack boxes, load them, shelve them, etc...How long it takes to zone a bay (which means organized the books on a bookcase). So they can use those figures to schedule how many hours our booksellers need to do thier jobs. Now that is not bad...except that there are too many variables. The age of the bookseller doing the job, how many times a customer interups you to help them, the number of product actually on the shelf to scan, cause a shelf of bibles is much easier to do than a shelf of paperback romances or say paperback childrens books. So to say that it should only take 20 mins to do a job is great for a GUIDE LINE....but you shouldn't try to hold a person to it exactly. It's impossible. Or if not impossible, damn near to it.
The company has become much more MONEY minded. REALLY money minded. As in "get all the customers money we can, sell them something, regardless of whether it's what they want or not". There is such a huge push on ALL the employees to sell membership cards, offer the mastercard, buy our gift cards, etc...just so we can make sure that you come back and give us MORE of your money. And the employees HAVE to sell you those. They have to mention that at the cashwrap, or in cafe. They HAVE to try and sell you that larger cup of coffee. If they don't....they get written up. If an employee fails to mention any of those items (plus several more things) during a "surprise shop", then their name gets posted for everyone to see as to why the store or cafe failed thier inspection. And you can BET that is brought up in thier review.
I used to LOVE working at B&N. It was the best place to be for me since I love books, and I loved the environment. Now it's just a stressful place to work, the 'we listen' is a joke, we have so much stuff to try and push on customers till they just get pissed, and we have to continually try and train people over and over again, cause we can't seem to keep the good people, which in turn aggravates our customers cause they want to deal with KNOWLEDGABLE people.
Unfortunately....it seems like Barnes & Noble is becoming the 'Walmart' of bookstores. Hire cheap labor, employee attitudes in the toilet, and a DRIVE THOSE SALES attitude. That's it. All about the buck and how we can get more of it from you. The community relations has gone down the tube...all they are told to focus on now are bookfairs. Not offsite ones in the schools...but ones in the stores...of course so we can sell more product. Yes it can generate some funds for organizations and schools. It can be a good program if you have good people behind it. But we used to have lots of bookclubs, storytimes, programs that would come into the store, etc...however those things don't sell enough.
From what I understand, the Community Relations Position is no longer supposed to be 'warm and fuzzy'...it's just another outside sales position. In other words..if you don't have a dollar we can get from you...then it ain't worth our talking to you."

Too bad. I LIKED the warm and fuzzy place we used to be. So did most of our customers. Now it's like...what the hell happened to my bookstore?
My answer? Corporate policy. For all of you customers out there that are unhappy with B&N and how it's gotten to be such a 'show me the money" company....Please contact corporate headquarters in NYC. THEY are the ones who dictate to us. We don't have a choice. THEY are the only ones who can change your shopping experience. The store managers can't. The person at the info counter can't. The cashier can't. ONLY the District Managers, the Regional Managers, and the corporate headquarters decision makers can.
Don't like being pestered about buying memberships everytime you go to the counter? Don't like having the B&N Mastercard shoved in your face? Don't want every freaking person in the store asking you if you want giftcards? Or how about if you ask for a tall coffee you don't get asked EVERY time "would you like to get a vente for ONLY 50 cents more?". No. I just want a small coffee. thanks. Then I suggest you email corporate headquarters, or call them, or just get archaic and post them a note. Tell them to stop shoving this down your throat. Trust me....we, the employees, don't like having to do it to you either. We can really tell when you are getting aggravated. And we sure as hell don't appreciate having to be the ones to tell you all this crap. We figure...you're adults (most of you)...if you want the membership card, you'll see the signs and ask about it. If you want to purchase a gift card, you'll pull one off the display that is right there in front of you at checkout. And if you want a large coffee...then you'll say "I want a large coffee. Or vente. :)

My poor 85 year old mother went to Barnes and Noble to purchase a gift card for me for Christmas knowing how much I love to read. Instead she was talked into a Membership Card!! The clerk told her it would be much more beneficial to me throughout the year because I would save soooo much money, way over the $25 it cost my mother. My mother fell for this salesperson's line of crap. If the salesperson would have done their homework, they would have found that I already own a membership card. Obviously they are told to push the membership card with no regard as to who is receiving them. Shame on Barnes & Noble for taking advantage of an elderly person in this way. I'll let you know how this turns out when I go to their store tomorrow to get it straightened out. If they refuse to credit her for the membership card and give her the gift card I am never entering any of their stores again. Borders is right down the road and Amazon is at my fingertips!!

I just had a bad experince with Barnes and Noble. Last Wednesday (one week ago today) we ordered 4 books in a series for my daughter. Wen my wife and I arrived home we found we needed book 6 and not book 5. I called to change the order to the correct book. Simply change number 5 for number 6. Sounds easy, right?

The clerk on the phone said we could not do that. We could cancel the order but could not change it. I asked for it to be canceled. She said she could cancel it but could not reverse the charges on my debit card unless I drove back to the store.

A week later (today) I went back to get the money back for the three books. I was told they had been shipped to my home. I will now need to wait for them to get to my house, drive back to the store and THEN get my money back.

Customer service SUCKS!

Doug, the problem with your ordering isn't really customer service related in any way. There is quite a bit of red tape that comes from our company using a rather archaic computer/ordering system. I'm sure the booksellers would have helped you any way they could.

As an employee for B&N for several years I find it disheartening that people never take repsonsibility for there own actions. I see stories here of customers and employees alike who have done wrong to each other. The employees blame customers, the customers blame employees, and it's an unfortunate us vs them mentality. I have had my fair share of problem customers. I have also spoken with literate, intelligent, and kind people in at least an equal ratio. There are some people for whom I bend over backwards for that will never be satisfied. They have expectations of others that are completely unattainable. Several of the posters here are definitely in that category. On the other hand I have had customers who couldn't stop telling me how helpful and dedicated they believed i was for simply greeting them and showing them to a book.

It was stated earlier that the brick and mortar stores are not large enough by any stretch of the imagination to accomodate all books in print. Very true. That subset of customer mentality I spoke of before will never understand that when you berate and belittle someone for something out of their control, it will never solve the problem. Instead there is a blame transfer that is counterproductive to both sides.

As for specific manager/employee/customer service problems, it's unfair to blame all of barnes and noble for the one bad manager you met, or the cafe employee who smoked weed, or the cashier who was snippy. There are a very large number of stores in this country and I'm willing to bet that many of them are competently staffed with caring booksellers. I like to think of myself as one.

In any case, if we could all find some customer/employee middle ground and realize its not easy to please everyone and try to get along, we wouldn't have so much frustration.

...and yes, I do like my job.

As far as the comment about employees being able to read the books and bring them back (hardcovers) well, they do need to be in new condition otherwise we would have to pay for them. How is that any different than somebody who has bought a book taken it home looked at it then returned it to the store.

The return policy is you get whatever you paid for it back within 30 days. Customers could have read a book withing 30 days. Returns in most retail stores get put back on the shelf it is a pretty common practice unless the item is damaged. I agree with the people who should name the location of the Barnes and Noble because unfortunately not all locations are equal.

I have had people come into the location that I work at and complain about the treatment they received at other locations. I

agree with Chad that sometimes customers think that it is poor customer service when really it is just our computer system not allowing or some other technical difficulty. However, I do tend to explain to customers the situation, for example, our system does not let us edit orders after they've been placed only cancel them.

However, I realize why some of the people that have posted on here would not want to shop at Barnes and Noble after the experiences that they have. I wouldn't either. It is a shame that a one poorly run store or snobby employee can ruin it for the whole company.

Get off your butt, go to the store, and buy it from the store yourself. Lazy.

I'm sorry but i work at B&N and i love it ive loved it since i was a kid before i worked there and for those people that work there and our complainin than get another job its that simple noone needs your negativity. Also i do agree that the website is alittle frustrating but ive had pretty good results from my orders either you people are holding a grudge or youve just had bad luck no matter what the problem is you got to get over it and move on that's life. If your still adamant about complaing then stop sitting at your computer complaing all the time and do something about it.

just a correction to Marie, the BN return policy states that a customer has 14 days to return any merchandise WITH a receipt, past that they only get store credit. This isn't a complaint, I actually work for BN as a Head Cashier, and to be honest I really think the policy is quite fair.
I also wanted to say that I do enjoy my job at BN, only time I'll ever have any problems is when moronic customers demand stupid things, such as wanting me to be their own personal shopper during my break/lunch times, I don't mind helping a customer out when I'm off, just don't be a jerk about it and think you're entitled to royal treatment while I'm not on the clock. Other than that, it can be a challenging place to work at, but also really fun and rewarding.

I work at B&N, and I sympathize with the unhappy customers.

In any retail bookstore, it's necessary to go through the shelves periodically and sort the books (the company calls this "zoning") -- books do get misplaced. The official corporate policy is to do this once every six weeks, and in my opinion that is reasonable. However, our store is so short-staffed that zoning occurs only once or twice a year.

A second problem is that in many of our departments, the company sends us far more books than we have room for. Since our backstock storage areas are already full, our shelvers have to use "creative" techniques and cram these books into any available space, with minimal regard for categorization.

The result is that our shelves are a disaster. If a customer asks for a book, and the company computer ("BookMaster") says we have it, there is a one-in-three chance that nobody will actually be able to find the volume. We check not only the book's regular department, but also any special displays listed on BookMaster, we look in the receiving room in case the item has come in recently, we search the vicinity of each correct location in case the book has been moved slightly, et cetera.

And if I phone a nearby B&N looking for a book that we don't have, they too have a 1-in-3 failure rate among books that their computer says they should have.

Does B&N upper-level management know that 33% of their books are missing?

Barnes and Noble was once a good place to work for me. Then it changed. Drastically. I can't explain how much emphasis there is on being "better than everyone else" including customers. The manager at my store made everyone feel awful and completely useless, regardless of the fact that they worked their asses off cleaning up after, yes, the dreaded customer. It's become so corporate it's ridiculous. One of our employees killed herself and I sometimes wonder if a piece of that was Barnes and Noble.

When I was a college kid, I used to go Barnes & Noble to buy textbooks. Then they were in a basement in Manhattan somewhere. A number of years ago, they changed their format and tried to drive out every independent in the country with soft chairs and huge stores in malls. In 1999 or 2000, I tried to order a book from them, "How the Hebrew Language Grew." It took several months and sitting on their necks to actually get the book out of them.

Now we live in Israel. There is no Barnes & Noble here, thank goodness. When we ordered once from Amazon, we ordered from the British site, figuring that they would mess the order up less. They were okay, but after we gave up the credit card, we could no longer order from them.

Nu, that's life in the fast lane.

If BN messes up for too long, folks will stop going there and they'll start closing stores.

That too, is life in the fast lane....

1. Thursday, September 27, around 8:00pm, B&N Store, The Pruneyard, Campbell, CA. The security alarm went off when I was going out. There happened to be an unopened audio book "Beowulf" in my backpack that I purchased on Saturday, September 22. The store managers (a lady) and another gentleman suspected I was lifting the item. I did not have the receipt on me. I went back home, found the receipt, and came back to the store. It turned out that when I had bought that audio book, the clerk had forgotten to scan the item. So it was Barnes and Noble's fault, for which I got into trouble. The store manager (the lady) was less than courteous. She did not even apologize. B&N should always check that their own systems work properly and that their employees are doing their job before they charge customers with something as serious as shop-lifting.

2. On the same evening, I tried to return TCP/IP Illustrated (a 3 volume set that I had ordered online through the store a few days back). B&N happened to have sent me two copies. So I was trying to return one of them. But, the package was not accompanied with any receipt. When I told this to the same store manager (the lady mentioned above), she refused to believe me. She said, quite arrogantly, that packages never arrive without a receipt. She did not change her attitude even when I pointed out B&N employees do make mistakes (as in incident 1 above).

3. To continue with "TCP/IP illustrated" - I have visited the B&N store 4 times for this book. The first time, one of the employees placed an order online on my behalf. But I received the wrong book - "The Age of Turbulence", by Alan Greenspan. I went to the store (2nd visit) to return this item. But they asked me to call up B&N online. I did so, and was told to return the book to the store. So I visited B&N, Pruneyard, yet again and returned the book (3rd visit). This time around, two copies of TCP/IP Illustrated arrived at my doorstep. When I went back (4th visit) to return one of the copies, I ran into the unpleasant lady (1 and 2) above, who refused to cooperate. She called in another store manager, who said that I have to ship it back myself. So now, I have to call up B&N again, ask them for a shipping label, and when it arrives, pack and ship the item. Why should I go through all this trouble because B&N cannot ship the correct items?

I work for Barnes and Noble now. I used to work for Borders. It's the same both places. I've seen it a couple times where the customer orders something from the website and they get the wrong book. Or they don't get it at all. Sometimes, they even get more than one of the same thing. I'm talking BOTH companies. It varies from store to store, but in the store I'm at now, if you bring us a book you got from the website, with the packing slip that every shipped order has enclosed, we will either A) Get the right book for you off of our own shelves or b) Issue a store credit for the amount you paid for the book. I had a guy return 6 copies of a $35 book just two days ago, because they were late arriving. No Problem. I just ask that all of you who have had a bad experience with one of our stores or the website, don't judge the rest of the stores or the company as a whole because of it. There are a few of us out here who pride ourselves on our customer service. But, let's face it. A lot of companies, including B&N, are hiring teenagers for the stores. It's cheap labor and most teenagers these days are hardly taught manners, much less how to provide a good shopping experience. And, a lot of the people who work in the warehouses don't even speak English. They find the books to ship based on a catalog number. And if the wrong book is in the spot they need a book from, they don't know the difference. As far as bn.com is concerned, it is a completely different entity from the brick and mortars. We don't do any business directly with one another. Don't judge one by the other.

I am a BN employee. For what it's worth, the MAJORITY of the non-management staff in my store has some sort of college degree, many have bachelors degrees or greater and are over 22 or 23 years old. Almost everyone of them has to have another job on top of working as many hours as possible at BN and they ALL still live with their parents even some who are upwards of 30 years old! And these are people who have been promoted! There are people who have been there for three years who are making less than eight dollars an hour. Ever watch a documentary called "The high cost of low prices"? BN is the WalMart of the book world. I hope everyone looks in to their locally owned bookstores. If only I knew how to start a union..

I am a former employee of Barnes & Nobles....I quit today after I got my review....I did excellent, I sold the highest percentage of memberships (which is great considering I have always been a part time employee) I got a raise (25 cents) and then quit.
After recieving actual constructive criticism, my manager then told me every single thing he could think of that employees thought of me personally. But, made me feel soooooo much better when he said that some didnt like me at first, but after hanging out with me...they like me....
But, I am not unused to this...I knew it would happpen. The first month or so after I got hired on years ago, I was forced to have a "sit down" with TWO managers because I had failed to hold the door open for another employee and they felt I did it "maliciously". Because that is the kind of anger I harbor ladies and gentlemen....dont you dare piss me off because I am so passive agressive that i wont hold the DOOR open for you!
I have done so much for the company, and I am such a hard worker (ive had to TRAIN ...TRAIN!!!! the new music manager because she has never A. worked in music or B. worked in the music department...all without " telling her what to do" because she is my manager!...talk about a conflict of interests.
So what do I blame? This whole we listen bullshit....They should call it "We Gossip" because that is ALL these people DO! And if the gossip is bad...i.e. they think you rolled your eyes or you werent in a good mood one day...you WILL hear about it 7 months later...all of it....and you will NOT be able to defend yourself because they wont tell you WHO said it...they will just reveal everything you have ever done that bugged them.
I was not going to go through another of their "performance reviews"!!!
Screw Them
Oh and by the way....I have NEVER even been written up....just harrassed....

My second post ...

I work at a Barnes & Noble bricks-and-mortar store, and a very difficult part of my job is deciding how much service each customer is going to get. Why? We are understaffed, and if I take the extra time to give one customer good service, the other customers in line are going to have to wait longer.

Whenever I am talking to a customer, I have to consciously ration my time. If the line is getting long, and if the customer hasn't convinced me that he is serious about buying something, I will try to get rid of him. I hate doing this, but Barnes and Noble gives me no choice. I am compelled to allocate my time toward the people who are ready to spend cash.

A customer who phones when the store is busy will have especially bad luck. If I cannot get the phone because I'm busy with other customers, I let it ring as long as possible in hopes that some other employee will answer it. But after about 30 or 40 straight rings, I get tired of hearing it, so I pick up the phone, promise to get another bookseller, and put them on hold. I do page for any available bookseller to pick up that line. Of course it's all a lie, because I know that no bookseller is available (if one had been, he would have answered the phone), and by the time I can get back to the caller, that person will probably have given up and phoned Borders instead.

In my store it's not unusual for customers to walk out angry because they couldn't find anyone to help them. Sometimes they curtly inform me of that fact as they are going out the door. One major thing I wish I knew is how many unserved customers leave without saying anything to any of our employees -- you can be sure that these dissatisfied people will mention it to all their friends.

I hate to give customers lousy service, but sometimes Barnes and Noble forces me to do it.

- - Anonymous bookseller.

to the person who said teachers are the worst consumers:

You are wrong! We don't expect discounts for the reason you mention but because when we go to the store we have to deal we dumbasses like you who could not get anything better than a Barnes and Noble job making slightly higher than minimum wage, and we then remember you as the student who was always distracted in class and could not perform like the others, and remember your parents coming up with excuses for your inability to perform; excuses like "my son/daughter has ADD", and "he/she has a learning disability". Go to college, get a degree, and maybe you too can some day make $60K, $70K or more. Good luck with your pathetic life, loser!

Wow, the 'teacher' that posted on Oct. 9th seems to have a bit of an anger issue. I must be an exception to the rule, but I am a department manager and I make 34,000 a year plus over time, I have been with the company just under a year. So yeah, looking back at my elementary education classes in college, I make more than some starting off teachers.
And who are YOU on your high horse? I would say you teach in the public school system because you are a really angry person. I suggest anger management classes or even medication. Or maybe the comment struck too close to home to pull that sort of reaction out of you.
And yes I have seen teachers try to use their discount for personal use, but most don't realize that the card is limited to school use only. Not bad customers, just UNEDUCATED.
You know we have a really good self-help section...check it out. Granted you won't get 20% off.

I am receiving manager at INDY area b&n. I have only worked there for 1+.

The planning of shipments are terrible and thats being nice. I was without help for 9 months (except for someone 12 hours a week that does returns only), up until two weeks ago when I finally got a helper for the holidays. The company cares little about the employees in the receiving room. The room is a complete mess with 100's and 100's of bargain book boxes in rec room. They're stacked almost up to the lights....not kidding. In past month, I have had 200+ boxes of regular product several days, when alone a can do approx 120-150 depending what is in the boxes (Also sorting table is stacked full of books most days. We have to shelve from the table. We are that far behind some days). Then by Friday there is a 100-150 boxes not completed. There is no way to stop the next shipment, they just keep sending the shit everyday. No matter what. I hope for a day when a truck breaks down, but of coarse you will get a double shipment the next day (makes sense....not really). I am close to giving my two weeks. The company has lost its way and my confidence.

For the people that say we give bad customer service, I agree but not because of the employees. It is the company that has cut our stores hours from 1025 per week to 875 per week which I think breaks down to 5 (30 hr)employees less per week. This causes workers to skip customer service just to get books to the floor. Not to speak of covering for breaks, lunch breaks, and bathroom visits. We have lost 5 employees in the last 2-3 weeks (one the manager of store). No one has been hired to replace them yet (except manager). Our new manager is a real cool guy but he has been put in a no-win situation. Our store is in deep kaka for Christmas. But we will squeek by like we did last Christmas, which is the problem, I think, because nothing will ever done to fix problems as long as we make MONEY...

For the person that talked about the computers skills of managers, well, I had to show all of the managers how to make a new folder for e-mail the other day. Several of our managers don't even own computers. The company needs to send them to computer classes, it would only help the company. (my last company in 1992 [15 years ago] said learn to use the computer or we don't need you).

The employees I work with are all great though. They are all hard workers but have just been stretched so thin. It sucks to watch good people get ruined by corporate thinking.

We Listen sounds like a good idea, but I have never used it. I doubt it would change anything if I did.

If B&N keeps it up the sales numbers will keep falling!

I complained directly to Barnes and Noble corporate headquarters about a rude saleslady in the Aliso Viejo, CA location. I am sure customers can be difficult to deal with. But let me share what happened to me, as a customer.
As I purchased my book, she pushed the "discount" card on me, as they usually do in my repeated experience. I declined, politely. "No thank you. " She persisted.
I said, still polite: "I don't want to pay the yearly fee."
Then she replied, and this is verbatim:
"Nothing in America is free, m'am."
I was in shock that she could be so rude to me, when I didn't even have an attitude and here waws yet another B&N pushing that so-called "discount" card you have to pay a yearly fee of 25 bucks for (which makes sense only if you spend enough to offset the yearly fee)
Borders incidentally (to my latest knowledge) does not have a fee for their discount card. That is where I am driving out of my way to shop now. I wrote a letter to headquarters informing them of this and got a letter back to contact the district manager. I don't have time to make the effort when its not me that made the mistake.

One more incident, at the B&N location in the Tustin Marketplace, Southern Ca. I was with a disabled friend (who was in a wheelchair) sitting in the Cafe area where we were working at a table with his laptop. It suddenly started running out of power and we needed to save. So I grabbed the laptop and quickly plugged it in to a nearby outlet, within the Cafe area, right by the trash can.
We were using the power around 5 minutes when this snotty female employee came over and told us we could not plug into the outlet. She was quite snippy about it.
Since that day, I never went back to that location and I have mentioned that experience in consumer reviews. I would not feel comfortable taking a laptop back there with that attitude, especially since it was shown to a disabled customer in need.
Working with people is difficult, employees have bad days, etc etc. It may be a crap job. But I personally believe its the usual situation of a big corporation with a monopoly on the market. And the employees with attitudes, may I suggest you get another job. Preferably not working with the public.

Planning to buy a 2008 calendar? At B&N, they go to half-price on December 26.

Although plenty of calendars are on display now, B&N doesn't really expect anybody to buy them until the price goes down. The calendars are so outrageously marked up that we still make plenty of profit at 50% off. The few folks who do buy calendars at full price don't realize what suckers they are.

At my store, there are more calendars in the storage room than on the sales floor -- and more boxfuls are shipped into our store every day. We're just stocking up for the 50% off sale. Hundreds of calendars will not go out to the sales floor until the first week of January.

The backlog will not be cleared until the last week of January, when calendars will be 75% off. At that price, we do no worse than break even.

Actually, BN Cali,

I don't know if it is different in different regions but the back of our receipts say that a full refund in the original form of payment will be issued for books and unopened music/dvds...with a receipt within 30 day and that is the policy our store goes by. The exception however for us is textbooks which are only refundable within 14 days.

I know that the original post is old, but I see that people are still responding, so I figured I would throw my two cents in...

I have been working in my B&N (in the NYC/NJ area) for three months now, though I have been working large-store retail for over three years (and to the commenter who claimed that B&N employees are all idiots without degrees: I graduated with departmental and university honors from NYU and am heading off to a top 10 law school in the fall).

I started out at cashwrap, got moved to customer service, and now basically work everywhere (cashwrap, customer service, kids, music, receiving, training). The reason I wanted to work at B&N was because I genuinely love books, and I have been shopping at B&N since I was old enough to be set loose in stores--which, consequently, was not at five years of age, as many adult customers in B&N Jr. seem to is an appropriate age at which to leave your child in a huge store.

That being said, I was slightly disillusioned quite soon for two distinct reasons. First, most of the people who come into my B&N are either high school students looking for the thinnest book possible to read for some school project, stay-at-home moms who blather on and on about what a genius Oprah is and why she knows so much more about the books she recommends than I do (unlikely, seeing as I read most of them before she chooses them), or old people who just want to come in and yell at us for no discernible reason. Very rarely do we get a customer who truly wants a book to actually read and enjoy; it has gotten to the point where I even get excited when I see someone picking up a bunch of romance novels to read. After dealing with any of those three types of people for an extended period, you become jaded about customers altogether; that's not an excuse, just an explanation.

What I've found works best to combat this jadedness is, ironically, honesty. I think that very often customer service employees are conditioned to make up lies about why things can't get done, but I do the exact opposite by telling the truth. If I can't find a book, I calmly explain that it was probably moved somewhere else or was stolen. If I am working music and don't know a section, I explain that I am only covering music and therefore don't know exactly where everything is. If you ask me about the member card--which, by the way, we get no commission from (unlike other retail stores) but are obliged to ask you about anyway--I tell you how much you'll save that day, and I only continue explaining if the customer is either buying hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise or if they seem interested.

I have found that most customers just don't understand how retail works, and sometimes, after having it explained to them, they are a lot more patient and pleasant. And, yes, having both customers and employees be pleasant really makes the whole experience easier for everyone involved. It is the customers who are not condescending or belligerent towards me while I am trying to help them (if I am not trying to help you, then by all means, stand up for yourself) who will get the recommendations, anecdotal banter, and extra effort from me.

Of course, I know that not everyone takes the same approach as I do, and there are many bad apples in the gigantic B&N orchard. But, believe it or not customers, the people who are assholes to you are assholes to us, too, and that is the second thing that has disappointed me about the job. We have an employee at my B&N who has been complained about not only by customers but also by his fellow employees, yet he has stayed (and become a lead!) because we are, unfortunately, so incredibly short-staffed. Our biggest issue is that retail is still considered the domain of high school students and drop-outs (hence, the aforementioned assumption that all B&N employees are uneducated), and the pay grade is commensurate with that assumption, so we only really get applications from high school students who cannot work before 4 p.m. or past 9 p.m. Do you see the problem that poses for a store where shifts start at 7 a.m. and can last until 1 a.m.?

What it all boils down to is a problem at the corporate end of the operations. B&N does a lot of things right: the return policy is incredibly flexible, customers are allowed to read books within the store without buying them (yeah, try that at an independent bookstore and see what happens), and the fact that we can order a book for a customer without them being obligated to buy it just boggles my mind. But the company also has really mishandled the move into the new technological age, which is understandable considering the fact that the system they had been using for years worked so well for them, though that doesn't really excuse the fact that they are always one step behind.

Overall, everyone needs to realize that each store is unique, and the people working within it are human, too, and thus there are many reasons why your shopping experience that day may not have been ideal. To compare B&N to Amazon, which doesn't have to deal with the variable of human interaction, is a bit silly.

Then again, I do hate the website. At least now they've tried to change it for the better.

Oh, and two more things:
1. Under no circumstances are we allowed to take books home without paying for them then return them to the store. Did anyone really think that was allowed?
2. Best Buy is indeed an awful place to work. Every day I worked there was like taking a step closer and closer to the ninth circle of hell.

Assholes? Try out sendahole.com.

Read Pretending You Care: The Retail Employee Handbook by Norm Feuti. He must have worked at B&N at some point. If you've never worked retail, this will give you some understanding of what the "front lines" are up against every day. Customers aren't always right, trust me. We're just supposed to pretend that they are.

Jane-just-above apparently missed out on the whole Book Loan Program benefit during her orientation and training. Either that or her store doesn't participate for some reason. Booksellers most certainly are allowed to "check out" one hardcover book for two weeks at a time. If it is not in resellable condition, they must pay for it. The program is intended to keep booksellers informed of a range of new titles they might not necessarily buy for themselves so that they can make informed recommendations to customers. It's not really any different than customers coming in and reading without buying. Or the trying on of clothes to see whether they fit.

In an attempt to sum up after a nearly FOUR YEAR OLD thread of comments that has really gone wildly off-topic at various points:

We don't know the other side to this blogger's story. He may have been an ***hole customer. Or he may truly have been the victim of an ***hole in customer service. The moral of the story is that there are a few bad apples on both sides. And every day thay are about a gazillion perfectly pleasant transactions that no one will ever blog about afterwards.

t-h-e-r-e, not "thay"

To the people discussing the return policy, there are testing areas going on.
I know that Houston is one of a number of test markets trying out the 14 day return policy. The part of the new plan I love is no receipt no return. This has cut down tremendously on the people we KNOW are trying to screw us.
So yes, we are 14 day period. Christmas should be fun..with a gift receipt you will have 30 days from Christmas.

hey book lover,

I don't know what teachers you're tallking about who make less than you. Have you checked their salaries lately? 10 Months of work, under 30 hours per week and salaries starting in the 40's; not bad, right? Plus 20% discount at B&N; you just can't beat that.

Anyway, you are the one who sounds angry or perhaps you are not too happy with your job after all. I am sorry to hear it. A job is a job dude, get over it. Teaching is a career for the strong minded because teachers have to deal with criticism from everyone, especially parents who are not willing to educate their own children and live under the misconception that it's a teachers duty to do that. Everyone knows the education begins at home and it's reinforced at school. You can't reinforce what it's not there.
Don't be angry "booklover", accept who you are and don't be so hasty to pass judgement on other people.
By your tone I am willing to bet you're a Hardcore Liberal. Did I guess correctly?

I would like to inform all those who don't like to have the membership question asked to realize that the employees do not like to ask it. They are real people with families to feed, and this is a requirement for their employment. I am lucky to work in the back and not have to deal with the careless customers that shop at book stores. The back room in most Barnes and Nobles is the therapy room. Booksellers are all expected to watch every episode of oprah(taking notes),listen to all radio shows, read every magazine, be able to read the minds of customers, control shipping companies,and apologize for human flaws, among other things- all for a meagar paycheck and no appreciation. As for those who loves amazon.com so much take your money to them maybe they will be able to satisfy your petty need.

Actually..to be way off post, this is a reply to someone who felt the need to call me a LIBERAL. I find that highly insulting considering I am nothing of the sort.

I bet you don't live in the South. Check your facts Buddy and see what the average small town teacher starts off making. 40K would be a dream. Maybe I should try to be more 'global'. Here is a quick glance at Louisiana, plug in 0-1 year experience. I will admit my education is a few years dates... but look close... wow are those number averaging high 20s to low 30s??

And yes a job is a job.. and no where did I infer that I did not like mine.

My original post had some mention of Barnes and Noble and teacher discounts. If you feel the need to make a personal issue, at least try and stick to the thread.

I used to work at barnes and noble. for the first 8 years I loved it. I was promoted into management and always was treated well, until we got a new store manager. The first few months were fine, until christmas was over then he began getting me in trouble for everything. If I left my area to help a customer I was yelled at, If I didn't help them I was yelled at. I was blamed for everything and told I was doing a horrible job even though I had 100's on every customer shop, had 8 years of excellent reviews, and my department was beating all of the goals. Then he started changing my schedule to hours I didn't have a babysitter. I complained to "we listen" believing it to be anonymous. They called my store manager and district manager the next day and I was forced to quit. I later found out my job had been offered to the managers old coworker before any of this had even started. THis is how B&N is. They will get rid of long term employees for no reason, lie and make up things to make them look bad so you can't sue, and the top managers can get away with anything. The whole "we listen" is just away to find out who is causing problems and get rid of them. If you complain about anything your hours are cut and eventually you will be forced out no matter how many years of hard work you put in. I guess how each store is is dependent on the store manager. I had loved working there the first 8 years and had no complaints. I thought we treated the customers well and listened to them. Then when the new manager came in and customers had any type of issue he had us ignore them. Each store probably had its on issues and customer experience, but i WILL NEVER SHOP THERE AGAIN. There management and district managers are horrible, and they treat long term employees and low level managers poorly. They sit in the office all day while everyone else works hard, yet they are the ones that get the large paycheck and bonuses. The company execs are in denial with what goes on.

I read in the "Orlando Weekly" that barnes and noble was one of the 5 best places to find gay sex in the bathroom. The article was listing specific stores and bathrooms that are used for hook up spots. Whats funny is the main store listed is the store in florida where all the district and regional offices are located. Are the managers that clueless or maybe its not the family store they claim. haha

I've worked at my Barnes & Noble for four years now and I've had no complaints with the job. Some of the regulars we've had are a bit colorful, but that's just the way it goes with a store. The benefits are great, sure the raises aren't the best, but it's the satisfactory feeling that you get when you give that little kid a book that he/she wants or that you can tell someone off the top of your head, "Yes we have that book". During the holiday season it's the worst. We're forced to ask all these questions to customers that really don't care. For instance, "Do you have a member card to save 10%?", "It's a program where you can...", "Would you like to donate a book for our holiday book drive?" and the ever so famous, "Would you like to purchase a Barnes & Noble gift card?". There's too much to ask and we have to do fash cashiering, we have to put the book LITERALLY in the customers hand, if you work in music we MUST talk about red dot and if you're in the cafe you HAVE to ask if you want anything from the bake case. It would be nice if we got commission for how many member cards we sold, honestly I would support it more. I really do like my job, but it's just too many questions, too little time, specially during the holiday season when people are just pushing through.

By the way, I feel sorry for all the B&N employees that have had terrible experiences while work and I also feel sorry for all the customers out there that they had an employee that doesn't give a shit. I've been fortunate to work with a team of great people even the store manager is nice (at times mind you). It's just people are doing their job. The only thing that I find beneficial to working at B&N is the medical care, the 401k and books. The reason I love my job is because I love books. It's as simple as that.

Anyhow, thank you for reading this and for the people that said they'd never go to a B&N again please try a different store. Not all stores are like that. There are some that's worth going to.

Holy crap, I didn't realize Barnes and Noble was such a shitty place to work at/buy things from. I go there a lot and I've always had a really nice experience, the employees are helpful and the bathrooms are clean. I suppose I can't speak for all Barnes and Nobles but the ones in north Texas are alright!

All the district and regional offices for B&N are not located in one Florida store. One district office might be. All other district and regional offices are located in their respective districts and regions all over the country. The home office is in NYC.

I've worked for BN for about 6 months now and it's a great place to work, except for one thing: customers. The customer isn't always right.

If you're there past closing time, you're right, we are probably going to get a little short with you. We've had people try to stay and browse for five minutes after closing. Unless you're out of the store, we can't shut down and begin to leave. Most employees have been there 9 hours on their feet, picking up your shit all day long. Yes, we want to leave, and until we're clear, we can't shut down our registers or lock our doors or begin to clean up the rest of the crap left behind by everyone who decides to pull out three large stacks of cook books or a whole stack of magazines about Britney Spears.

And as a regular employee in the Children's section, human stupidity boggles my mind. People regularly leave their children unattended, to pull out massive amounts of books. I've had 10 stacks of books to put away, the parents see it, and EVEN WORSE YET they think it's CUTE when their demons are pulling out books and throwing them around. Moreso, we aren't Chuckey Cheese. When parents allow their kids to scream, yell, or just make noises like dying animals, yes, we're going to say something.

As for the "employees get to take books home" critic, yes, we do, however the books must be checked by a manager before returned to the floor. Most of those adorable stains, folds, rips, etc you see are done by customers. We don't hand check every single book that goes from the Cafe tables to our recovery desk. I've seen customers use books as coasters, get food on them, and I've even seen children doing the scratch-offs in those books and using the stickers out of the sticker books. Worse yet, we've found covers half-ripped off. I've even approached a few customers WRITING in the books and was rebuked with, "Well, it's pencil, it'll erase". WHAT?!?!?

I've found Sexuality books in the bathrooms, etc. I won't even go into the people we see in the chairs. Or the teenagers laying all over eachother in aisles, even when I'm walking past carrying a stack of crap so high I can't see over my own head.

I've had people come up to ask me questions at the front and I've asked them to get in line. You can proceed to explain the book in detail that you need for the next day, or I can promptly point you in the right direction. CUSTOMERS: CASHIERS. CANT. LEAVE. THE FRONT. And if no one is at the Customer Service desk, ask a stationed employee and they'll page someone there.

The stupidity of people further boggles my mind. "I'm looking for a red book, don't know the title or author." Yeah, guys, we don't HAVE a red book section, and out of the million or so titles we carry and regularly move around, slim chance I'll know it off of the top of my head. And what I love even more than that is when the customer gets all pissed off at us when they're the ones with the wrong title/author. I can only do so much off of a description. It's not uncommon for me to be thoroughly belittled by customers. Better yet, when they belittle you and then complain. I do my best to be patient, but I can only tolerate so much. No, we don't have a "vampirey" book section, Nintendo Wiis (at the store), a "red book" section, a "African American" fiction section, or so forth. If it seems very generalized, it probably isn't a section. We don't have that much room.

AND FOR GOD SAKES COME IN BEFORE YOU NEED THE STUPID BOOK THE NEXT DAY. Dear GOD. Don't get all pissed at me because we don't have the obscurely titled book you need the next day for your Aunt June's birthday.

And for God sakes, when you see some employee walking around with a large stack of books, looking lost of confused (or both), try to refrain from being an asshole. We're picking up your shit all day. Pro tip: just because we work there it doesn't mean we automatically know where every book in the store is exactly. All the crap you leave behind we have to find. It sucks. And by the end of the night, I'm dragging my feet because they're sore and I just want to go home.

I usually have excellent patience and a high success rate at finding books for people. Furthermore, I've gotten short with a few people just because they're stupid and belittling me, but otherwise I try to stay pretty patient.

Customers are rude and for some reason always believe they're superior to the people working there. Atleast, most of them treat us as such.

Learn a little respect and you'll be given it in due return.

P.S. I began working at BN because I have always loved books. Most people that come in are high school students needing a book by tomorrow, irritable unintelligables, or so forth. It begins to be, "Same shit, different day", but I still love my job because I love the employees and when I see someone buying a book by my favourite author, or find a customer who can carry on a conversation about a book, I actually get excited. I'll chatter incescintly about the book, make recommendations, etc. But these people are so rare it's incredible.

When I can't find a book on the shelf, or if the computer shows we may have only one in stock, I honestly will tell the customer up front that if we only have 1 it may be misplaced and therefore impossible to find. I then will search for the book, and if we don't have it, immediately offer to check another store or order it for them. In all honesty, sometimes it is near impossible to find some books. ESPECIALLY soft cover picture books. I try to stay well-humoured about it too. It's a daily thing for booksellers.

Well as an employee, no I don't always like the company. So I have to agree with a lot on here. Corporate has almost destroyed this company. We don't care about helping people, only helping the bigwigs make money. It's frustrating. Really.

But I challenge anyone to walk into ANY retail store and not find one A**hole employee.

Dealing with rude customers, messes the likes of which you can not imagine, not to mention those other cirumstances previously mentioned (bathroom cleanups, people practically if not actaully having sex in chairs etc.) all of this adds up to people getting a little short.

It's been said, and I agree, everyone should be required to work in retail at least once in their life. Maybe then everyone would show a little respect when shopping.

The reason they make the employees push the member cards, because if they don't sell a certain amount corporate is on their ass. And the Store Manager doesn't get his/her yearly bonus. The owner of b&N is a millionaire just off of member cards ALONE! I also am an employee. I don't like that part of working there. Along with the .25 to .50 raises. Yep the insurance is good and other benefits, but when it comes right down to it as far as they are concerned you can be a excellent employee but $$$$ is all they look at. not that you might like your job, if you ain't making $$$$ for them, you are just a number. And that is sad, because a lot of people that work there really do like what they do. They like books, and know books, but bottom line it don't matter to the company. You can always be REPLACED!

Would B&N ever consider hiring a high school student? If they have a good knowledge of books and authors, etc... And maybe in the summer when school wont be in the way...

I love B&N. I just realized that anyone can go in there...grab a book and read it right in the store and not even have to buy it. They have nice soft chairs and even a Starbucks inside. Nothing better than having a coffee..relaxing in a chair..and reading a book that I can put back on the shelf when my coffee is gone. Great place. But if I do want to buy online, I usually stick with amazon for the price.

To Nalia (Dec 2nd post): AMEN! I agree with you 100%!

I work for B&N and I am almost on year 8 with the company. I do my best to give great customer service, but when you have people who insist on skipping the line to "ask a quick question" when you know GOOD AND WELL that there is a line, do you really expect me to be nice with you. Want great service? Here are some tips:

1) Get off your cell phone! If you want my help and my full attention, then you need to give me your full attention so that I can ask you the questions I need to ask so that I can find the book you want.

2) Speaking of the book you want, stop coming to me asking for "the blue book with the yellow flower that was on such and such table 2 weeks ago." WRITE DOWN THE TITLE if you see something you like but you can not buy at that moment!

3) Clean up after yourselves in our restrooms! I get sick of people bitching about how nasty our restrooms are. The employees do not go in there throwing feces on the walls and urinating on the floors. Customers and their nasty kids do.

4) If we don't have your book, we can order it. We can not carry every damn book in print! Stop taking your anger out on us because you need a book for a class, gift or whatever else. Maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't have waited until the last minute.

5) Teachers do abuse the 20% off educator's discount. It clearly says on the back of the card that the discount is for items for your classroom. Kama sutra books and coffee makers are not for your classroom and you know it!


I could go on, but I will stop. I'm sick of people bad mouthing B&N. Maybe you people should learn how to treat others. I have a degree but I still work for B&N because I love working around books. Stop your bitching people!

About the employees:
1)I'm seeing a general trend of customers, and even employees, referring to BN employees as uneducated, high school dropouts, unable to make intelligent recommendations, etc. Let me tell you that I myself am an undergrad student about to graduate from a prestigious honors program in less than 4 years, and am starting medical school upon graduation. Many of my co-workers are college students as well, or graduates with a degree or second job, inluding engineers and schoolteachers. Those who do not have a degree are still for the most part very intelligent and well read. I have learned so many interesting things from talking to the various employees here, including the ones who are less academically educated than me. Those employees who have complained about their store being full of dumbasses, maybe their store is worse than the ones I've seen here in my city, but I bet it's also true that they didn't take the time to get to know and appreciate the variety of knowledge that each individual has to offer, and probably walked around with a snobby, "i'm better than you because I have a degree" attitude. I pity these people because they are missing out on many interesting and eclectic conversations and friendships that would have made their working experience much more enjoyable. The point: customers who have made complaints about their bad experiences, and in the same breath ridiculed the education level of the employees, I think that right there says why your shopping experience went badly. Same goes for the employees. Snottiness doesn't go unnoticed, and understandably results in negative reciprocation.

2) Many employees are sincerely interested in being friendly, helping out, and talking to you about books. THat being said, there have also been the rare few who i've seen being assholes to customers. Sometimes other employees have realized what's going on, jumped in and taken control of the situation. Unfortunately, sometimes the customer leaves in a bad mood and probably comments on a site like this. So customers, please understand that for every rude employee, there are so many nice ones. Don't write the store off your list due to one bad experience. I can understand numerous such experiences, but for the most part, that was probably an isolated event, you were the unlucky one who had to deal with an employee who is probably in the process of being cut out by management anyway.

3) I've also seen employees who have not been able to accomodate a customer due to no fault of their own- either the system doesn't allow it, or someone earlier on in the process messed up, or there's some other good reason why the employee couldn't follow through. The problem here is communication- many times the customer just doesn't understand the situation and then gets angry while the employee can't do anything about it. Basically, as an employee, try to understand that the customer might be misunderstanding, and if you can't do something or something goes wrong, don't just tersely dismiss the customer, be friendly and explain exactly what is wrong. And customers, try to give employees the benefit of the doubt, many times there is just no time to explain everything, but there IS a good explanation.

Also, management and working experience differs from store to store. Many of my coworkers hated working under the last store manager, but enjoy working with the new one. Managers affect everything from staffing to work morale. So you can see a big difference from store to store just because of the differences in management.

I think also that each store's management is a main issue of how a employee does their job. On Christmas Eve when the store closes at 6:00 p.m. you have to get the store cleaned up and ready to open just like any other night of closing. I don't think you should have to stay and start pricing items that go on sale for the day after Christmas. If the managers have to do so, then that comes with the job they wanted. Keeping employees there to do their work isn't right. Even no mention in a meeting that this would take place so you could make arrangements for Christmas spending with family. You are ORDER TO STAY AT THE LAST MINUTE. Most stores do this earlier in the morning of the big sale. And you are not getting paid anymore than hourly. No overtime, holiday pay, breaks, or just being ask to help out is different than being ORDERED TO. No mention of this ahead of time, we have Christmas meetings once a year and it's is not brought up at that time.
Running employees off, is not good. YOu never get that pat of the back and say you have done a good job and you know is doesn't cost the company a dime to say that either.

GOOD YOU STUPID PRICK!!! I WORK FOR B&N AND HAVING TO DEAL WITH YOU FUCKERS EVERY DAY MAKES ME WANT TO KICK YOUR STUPID JAMES PATTERSON LOVING ASSES RIGHT OUT OUR DOORS!!! WE FUCKING HATE YOU AND DON'T WANT YOUR BUSINESS!!! EAT OUR GREEN B&N SHIT!!!

Well, I've worked at B&N for about a year now, and I must say that I've never been intentionally been rude to a customer. Actually, I love all my regulars. But what the customers have to realize is that it's not always the employees fault, we don't run the company. I don't want to ask you if you want a membership card. I really don't care. Personally, unless you come in every day it's a complete waste of money. And I don't want to try to sell you anything other than what you're already buying. It's a mouthful to ask each customer "What can I get for you?". "Would you like a larger size for just 30 cents more?". "Would you like anything from our bakecase?". "Do you have a memebership card to save 10 percent?"

Look, I'd rather not even speak to you. I've been so mistreated by customers. I've had change thrown in my face, I've been screamed at, called names, been talked down to. I'm not trying to make anyone's day a bad day. I'm only doing what they tell me to do. It's a job. I'm not going to lose my job for you. Grow up.

Our customers are rude spoiled little brats who throw hissy fits if we don't kiss ass.

Great ... just about every post I've read here from emplyees of Barnes and Noble is blaming the customers for what goes on.

Geez, what happened to the old adage: "The customer is always right".

If that's the case, no wonder people are taking their business elsewhere. Sounds like a whole bunch of spoiled brat Gen Y'ers who can't deal with the notion of serving customers ... which is what the entire business is based on.

Look, I understand your consernes, but when that customer aprouches you, see them like it would be you in the mirrow.Regardlees, they pay your sallary.

I tried to order a Chocolate cupcake at the cafe. This happen on Route 17 South, Paramus, NJ at approximately 10 at night on Friday Jan 4 at the cafe. I have a speech impediment so have a stutter. I tried to order from a cupcake from the shorter red hair girl working behind the cafe. She asked me what I wanted.. I tried to speak but couldn't say what I wanted.. so I tried pointing. A few second later, she ignored me. Confuse at that point.. I goto the cashier who was friendlier and a different person. I still couldn't said what I wanted but at least she listen and tried to help.

I dont get this website policy. The blogger here hates "left wing dictators" but not religious ones, or right wing ones? Well uh okay! Then it says here that "Personal attacks are not allowed" Is that not an attack of the left not personal? Are teaching our future criminal justice majors justice or something else?

Also, he talks as if an entire company is to blame for one rude employee. I have had many experiences with amazon sellers not sending my books at all! OR a month late. or they later say they are out of stock ....soooorry!

I love being able to go to the bookstore and browse. With your attitude you need to be on a site that censors peoples opinions of you.

Barnes and Noble I use to thought was suppose to be a place for you to find a book, read it if you like it or not then buy it take it home. But what happen one day was the two employee there. An old guy in his 40s said, "excuse me, take the book you like, buy it and leave." then five minutes later, another woman walk pass the aisle and said, "jesus they've been here for so long. can't they just take the book and leave?"

WTH?! NOT COOL!

Nalia has it right. I've worked at Barnes and Noble for five years. It's a great job and most of the employees love coming to work. It's very satisfying finding that obsure "book with the red cover", but sometimes we don't know what customers are talking about. We're not magicians. We don't always know that book written by that guy with the dog who was on that show last year.

And for all the cranky customers, no, the customer is not always right. We tried to create a comfortable environment and customers destroyed it. The concept is to sit, skim through a book, and have a cup of coffee. Instead, people leave thirty books, a stack of magazines, a torn apart newspaper, and a half colored childrens book that their darling little child tore through. And all of it has a thin glaze from the cinnabon they brought in and left all over their stacks.

We try to help out teachers who have to buy books for their classroom. Instead, they abuse our generosity and use the discount on their own personal items.

Customers can't go into a store, tear it to pieces, lie to use a discount they are not entitled to, and then get mad when an employee doesn't bow down to worship them. We'll be happy to find your books for you, just don't be rude to us or our property.

I've worked at B&N for three years. Management likes to brag about the "generous" 30 percent discount that employees receive on books.

The trouble is that Amazon's price is often lower than the B&N employee price. I can order from Amazon, save money, and get a book that is not shopworn.

So our store has plenty of employees like me who buy their books elsewhere.

P.S. We get 50% off in the cafe, and even with that discount the food is overpriced. Most of our employees eat at the Wendy's across the street.

As in reference to the original comment, there is something that he needs to know. If he was ordering from a Barnes and Noble University store they are not the same as Barnes and Nobles. They are a sister company and are run differently by different people. Also it is more likely that his "customer service line" was a direct line to the University Book store where he probably talked to a University student working there and not a trained customer service employee. I have been through the customer service ringer for companies that require and pride themselves on it and the behavior he described simply would not be allowed from a properly trained employee.

Also, Just as any big corporation they will have faults usually the same ones. As far as raises for the employees they can only get a raised based on the customer rating of the store. So if the store gets rated poorly the employees geted paid in reflection. Stores that score 100 get raises and good ones.

And all you who are worried about the mistreatment of employees should also stop shopping at wal-mart. Talk about over worked and under paid. Not to mention unfair treatment. I've known several people who have worked at several different stores and the story is always the same.

And I agree with a few other people you can't judge and entire country chain based on one bad store experience. If you knew anything about franchise alone you should know this.

Hec the two Jack N the Box's in my home town are like night and day. One is dirty, and most of us are afraid to eat there , and the service is poor. The other one is clean, efficient, the customer is basically always right. When they do mess up you get free food and the employees are talkative and friendly. Not weird and scary.

Also if it was a university bookstore it is possible that the professor ordered the book late. This happens all the time. Or they'll request a book by title only with no other information which makes it hard to track down. Plus university books stores are not allowed to contact the professors directly. They have to contact the department and wait for the prof. to contact them. But the prof will almost always blame the book store. Sometimes publishers are out of stock, or screw up the delivery.

Honestly there are so many people involed in on line ordering (especially at universities) you should be thankful the system works as well as it does.

Barnes & Noble is continuing its phaseout of customer service.

In each of 2005, 2006 and 2007 sales in my store were up five to ten percent over the previous year. Yet management chose to reduce our staffing each of those years.

As personnel cuts continue:
-- More phone calls don't get answered.
-- More customers waiting at the information desk give up and leave.
-- More customers walk in, see a huge line at the cash registers, and leave before they even begin shopping.
-- More shoplifters know that nobody will see them swipe a book.
-- Less frequently we will sort the shelves, making it more difficult to find a book if we do have it.

At some point, customers will have had enough, and sales will start declining. By then, re-establishing the store's standards and regaining the store's customers will be very difficult.

If management really thinks that the low-service approach is a good idea, it should also cut prices. Customers will tolerate lousy service if they are saving lots of money.

I worked at a north Texas BN earlier this year. I, too, have a bachelor's degree and I like to read. It was the absolute worst job I have ever had. I was hired on at $7.25/hour because of my lack of retail experience (2.5 years a long time ago before my 10-year stint as an executive in Corporate America). I WANTED a job were I could provide EXCELLENT customer service to customers, and the best days were the ones that I actually got to work the floor. I scoured the place for people to help. That's the reason that I took the job. But they needed morning workers because all the college and high school kids couldn't do the 7am shift, so I was stuck shelving and zoning every day. I rarely got to help customers. I was miserable... making minimum wage, doing manual labor... and to the person who mentioned the time-expectations on zoning, I totally agree. I'm a hard worker, but with bad knees and a gazillion books out of place, I never could live up to their expectation. Regardless, they offered me a full-time position as lead casher-- with a HUGE bump in pay to $8/hour. Laughable. I was working at another retail store at the time that started me off at $9.65/hour, so the full-time position for less money was out of the question. Since I had worked in management at my corporate job, I was obviously interested in the management path and the managers at BN had praised me for my work and saw that in my future... but the day they brought in the meek girl 10 years younger than me with no management experience to be MY MANAGER, I was fed up. My favorite day at BN was the day I quit. When I went back to get my paycheck, the guy who DID take the lead cashier position went to get my paycheck-- but not before calling me a quitter. I just want to say that I believe that the customer is always right, and I always just wanted to help them. Sounds like they should have kept me around rather than some of the other people who keep putting the "blame" on customers. It's retail. At the end of the day, our sole purpose is (or SHOULD BE) making the customer happy. If they're hiring people that don't believe that, they're making a huge mistake. I, too, have stopped shopping at BN. I'll go to Borders if I need something that day, but typically choose Amazon because of their awesome prices and fast shipping.

I work in the childrens dept and I personally am sick of being treated like shit. I'm not your own personal shopper! And you people seem to think of the employees as babysitters as well. You leave your kids alone in the section! Then later when your kids are missing you dumb fucks are standing there with your thumbs up your asses "oh why did this happen? What did I do to deserve my child getting stolen?"
You are horrible lazy people! Thats what happened.
I've even caught some of you making out while there are children 3 feet away from you.
Once a fellow employee accidentally cut themselves with a box cutter and the customer nearly threw a fit because that ment she'd have to wait for someone else to help her. THis employee needed to be taken to the emergency room!
Have a little compassion. I doubt that if the shoe were on the other foot you would be complaining about the customer service.

Wow, it is so hard for me to read the complaints being made by Barnes and Noble employees on here. I have worked at a Barnes and Noble for almost a year now and I love my job. My managers are caring and understanding people who basically do whatever is necessary to keep the employees in a good working attitude.

In regards to poor customer service at B&N, I would like to state that we work as hard as we can. If you come in the day you need a random book, you run the risk that we might not have it in stock. I'm sorry, but that is just how it works . There are millions of books in print and our store is only so large. If you didn't have time to wait for us to get the book for you, then you should have tried to get it a week earlier than that.

To all of the employees that have been complaining about the treatment they have received, chances are that you brought most of it upon yourself. At my B&N, our employees form a very tightly-knit group of family. We range from high school, through college, and even up to senior citizens. Yes, I am paid $7.25/hr, but that is not minimum wage. Minimum wage is set at $6.50/hr. if you are so highly qualified to get another job, then do it. If you were working as an executive in another job, why did you have to take one that is so "awful"? My job at Barnes and Noble is the most rewarding job that I have had as of yet (granted I am in college now). No, I do not plan to continue with them for the remainder of my life, but I will stay with this company until I am put into the job that I am going to school for. Why would I do this ? Because Barnes and Noble is a wonderful company to work for.

I've said my peace.

Barnes and Noble has the Worst customer service I've ever experienced! In October 2007 I mailed in 10 books with the packing slips, for return credit - All the books were packed together in the same box, they credited me for 7 of the books but I have still have not received credit for the last three. I have called twice and have been constantly corresponding via email for the past 3 months with the incompetents who call themselves "customer service". For some reason they believe that they have not received the last three books, even though they were all sent in the same box! Has the US Postal service taken to separating packages during the shipping process?! All that I keep hearing from them is that they are researching the matter. What I believe is that someone from the warehouse stole my returns upon receipt. I will NEVER deal with Barnes and Noble again - to me they are Big and Nono.

I found this site because, in desperation to get out of my current company, I applied to several management jobs at B&N. I've been with my current company (a large department store) for about five years now, and I have had enough. Everything you guys have said sounds very, very familiar. Retail is retail, no matter where you go.