RJ Elliott is unusually as mad as hell with Barnes and Noble
I'm all about Amazon.com from now on. B&N screwed me.…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
RJ Elliott is unusually as mad as hell with Barnes and Noble
I'm all about Amazon.com from now on. B&N screwed me.…
Article comments
226 - Anonymous Bookseller
response to 224 - x3besi, who wrote:
"does anyone know how long is the employee break (if B&N has one) during a regular 8-hour shift????"
in my store, it's like this: you get a 30-minute unpaid break for lunch. also, if the store isn't too busy you might get a 15-minute paid break.
the official policy may differ.
227 - Donyale
At B. Dalton (still a part of B&N )you get 1 thirty minute unpaid break for lunch and 2 paid fifteen minute breaks for an 8 hour shift. Since B&N higher ups are always saying that we are all the same company, than that break rule should apply to B&N stores.
228 - Bookseller
** There is no way to exclude from the search results those books that we cannot obtain, while keeping listings of those books that are in the store or that are orderable.
You can limit your search to in-store only. Also, as to the "cannot obtain", the most likely reason you can't eliminate "search our dealer network" books from the list is because we CAN obtain them. You are quite capable of helping the customer set up a ship to home order directly from the website at your customer service desk computer. Many booksellers are simply too lazy to do so. I have regulars in my store that I help find out-of-print books all the time. It's really quite easy.
** If a customer's special order is taking longer than expected, Bookmaster cannot tell us where the book is, or when it will show up.
If it's ship to store, just reorder it from the website for them. See above comment. It's not smart to order books that only have one or two copies in warehouses nationwide anyways. Know how hard it is to find that one copy on the shelf in your store? BN distribution centers are a little bit larger.
If, however, the order was ship-to-home, you can use that nifty tracking number they give you in the ups section of our computers to tell them precisely where the package is if it's shipped.
**[insert random search engine complaint]
Use the website. It's better. Then just copy/paste the isbn back into bookmaster.
"We have plenty of astute customers who aren't going to be fooled."
You don't have to fool them. Sometimes you just need to go a little bit above the call of duty to get the info for them. I use my iPhone on a regular basis to google what a customer is looking for, and if we can't even get it used I'll call around to local used bookstores. They appreciate it, and come back asking for me by name.
You can't please everyone (especially not the idiots that expect us to find "that one book that I heard about on the radio! It's blue! And I think it was a diet book... or maybe it was on dogs." Or their favorite childhood book from 1920. Or CONCERT TICKETS (I got this question yesterday, working the customer service at my location). Most of us do the best we can. Every job has bad employees (my location certainly isn't any different on that front), but for the most part we want to help people find what they're looking for. We WANT to sell you books. The more you buy, the more payroll hours we have. The more hours our store has, the more hours I get. The more hours I get, the more money I make. I LIKE MONEY.
Cheers
--Your friendly neighborhood Bookseller
229 - Anonymous Bookseller
The writer of post #225 responds to the writer of post #228:
#228: You can limit your [bookmaster] search to in-store only.
#225: Actually, no. The in-store-only search is usually so slow that bookmaster times out and gives an error message.
#228: You are quite capable of helping the customer set up a ship to home order directly from the website at your customer service desk computer ... It's really quite easy.
#225: Quite easy it isn't. The web browsers on the customer service computers in my store have had a number of useful features disabled; it's awkward to do much of anything.
#228: I have regulars in my store that I help find out-of-print books all the time.
#225: If I'm helping a customer order from the web site, I consume an average of 10 minutes helping him/her spend an average of $2.99 (plus shipping) to buy a used book from some other company. Why so much time?
Reason 1. The customer will ask questions like these:
** "If a book is in VERY GOOD condition, does that mean that there might still be a crease in the cover?"
** "Is ABC used bookstore in Utah more reliable than XYZ used bookstore in Louisiana?"
** "Can you phone the seller to make sure that they will ship it today?"
There's no quick and courteous way to answer such questions.
Reason 2. Most times, the customer will want to pay with cash -- otherwise he/she would probably have used a credit card on a home computer. So the customer goes to the register in order to buy a gift card. Meanwhile, I start helping a second customer, because I don't want to stand there doing nothing, and there's a line of people waiting. If I step away from the customer service desk to find a book for the second customer, the first customer comes back, can't find me, and wonders what's going on. During all that, another employee has started using the computer that I had the order entered into, so now the order is lost, and we have to start over.
#228: Use the website. It's better. Then just copy/paste the isbn back into bookmaster.
#225: If the customer catches sight of the website screen, and sees a bunch of used versions for low prices, Barnes & Noble isn't going to end up selling a new book. Instead, B&N will be the pass-through for some other company to sell a used book. Sure, B&N will get a cut, but will it be enough to cover our expenses, like employee time? Probably not.
#228: Sometimes you just need to go a little bit above the call of duty to get the info for them.
#225: If I go above the call of duty for one customer, the next customer will have to wait longer to get service. Much of my day consists of balancing competing requests from different customers, some in person, and some on the phone.
#228: I use my iPhone on a regular basis to google what a customer is looking for
#225: Does B&N furnish your iPhone? When will they give me one?
#228: and if we can't even get it used I'll call around to local used bookstores.
#225: You have time to call around to other local used bookstores? I will gladly phone other B&N stores, but a competitor? No. Consider that if a used book doesn't appear on the B&N web site, it's not likely that the used bookstores in my town will themselves have a copy. Why waste everybody's time?
#228: Most of us do the best we can. Every job has bad employees (my location certainly isn't any different on that front), but for the most part we want to help people find what they're looking for. We WANT to sell you books.
#225: The employees in my store WANT to sell you books, too, but we want to do it PROFITABLY -- remember, no profit means no job. My store simply does not have the staffing to fully pursue all customer requests, and we focus attention on those customers who are likely to buy a book from B&N itself, and not from some other company listed on the web site.
- - - - - -
#225: With one remark I take particular umbrage:
#228: Many booksellers are simply too lazy to [use the B&N website].
#225: In our store, we're not lazy. We just have to set priorities to help the store make money. Our store is obviously not as generously staffed as yours -- or do you work unpaid overtime to go "a little bit above the call of duty"?
230 - Elwood
The local B&N near me is full of very rude employees. Very difficult to get anyone to help search for a book or place an order. B&N pricing is very high, unless you PAY to join their little club for a discount. Return/exchange policy is horrible. I purchased a book for a gift which turned out to be a volume they had already read. They would not exchange without a receipt, and by the time I got the receipt to them it had been ONE day past their 14 day policy. The manager said he could not do it because it's against the policy. So, what do I possibly gain from going to B&N over an online service? Pay extra for wasting my time and rude service?
231 - Hey you whiney B&N workers...
Wow, you people amaze me. You seem very irritated that you have to do your job. All you expect is the perfect customer that knows exactly what they want, where to find it, pay for it and leave. WTF? If the bathrooms are dirty, clean them. Imagine a food service worker saying cleaning is not MY job. If the books are out of place, move them back into place.( What about those poor clothing store employees that have to put back all those clothes?). The customer might not know the exact title or author, God forbid you help them, because they are too stupid and lazy to do your job and look it up online before arriving at the store.
Just do your job, and I promise I will not be rude to you. Don't like your job, well read a little more to educate yourself and get a better one.
232 - Anon Reader
I stumbled upon this blogsite, because I too am a dissatisfied BN customer. I have been loyal to BN for many years, but the service and attitude at the store here has really gone downhill in the past couple years.
What disturbs me the most is reading how disgruntled their employees are. It all very obvious to me now knowing how they select and treat their employees.
I'm definitely just moving on to amazon now. I'll just use the BN stores to browse the books, then go home and order online. It's also much cheaper, and my compter will assist me without making it seem as if I have really interrupted something very important and has no holier than thou, egomaniacal attitude.
I'm sorry for you guys, but you can't treat every customer as if they are the bad ones. I never even sat and browsed. If I couldn't make up my mind by browsing a book in less than 2 minutes, it probably wasn't worth reading.
The business will not thrive unless the customers are happy, the customers wont be happy if the employees aren't happy, and so on. I'll miss BN when they're gone.....
233 - BN Houston
First of all, to all of the disgruntled customers who say that BN will be gone soon... think again. BN was one of the few companies that has managed to make a profit amid the worst parts of the financial crisis and recession. In fact, the company is growing, adding a new flagship store in New York and a brand new store in Houston (among many other new stores).
You may be wondering, "why would a company with rude, incompetent workers and a shipping system that is consistently ineffective be doing so well?" The answer is, Barnes and Noble isn't what you think. For every bad experience mentioned here there are probably a thousand good ones, and, although you are bitter and wish to punish Barnes and Noble, the company is doing well right now and will do well in the future.
First of all, each store is different, is managed by different people, and is staffed by different people. My store in the Houston area is managed by competent, nice people who actually care about their employees. I am sure this is not the case everywhere.
Second, if you are someone who has made one of the most common "customer mistakes" such as asking a music seller or a cashier to find you a book, chances are you were not the first person that day to do that. People (especially those receiving only slightly above the minimum wage) have a limited amount of patience.
Also, as a BN employee, I find that the vast majority of customers are polite people who know what the are looking for, and they are helped with ease by booksellers. However, the occasional customer comes in, is rude, and asks for "the book with the red cover." The bookseller will not be able to help them find the book. Both parties will become frustrated; the customer will become more irate and the bookseller more standoffish. The customer will become offended by the demeanor of the bookseller, who has other customer to deal with, will vow never to come in to a BN ever again, and will post their awful experience on a site such as this.
Most importantly, please do not blame employees for things out of their control. We do not have anything to do with items shipped to customer's homes. We cannot control the time it takes for a book to be shipped to the store. We cannot control what books the store carries (a customer once accused BN of being a part of the "Liberal Media Conspiracy" because the publisher of "Liberty and Tyranny" was not able to ship us the FOUR HUNDRED copies we ordered). We cannot control what happens when you call the BN customer service number. We cannot control incompetent coworkers who shelve books incorrectly.
If you don't know what you want, at least have a genre in mind. For example: "I'm looking for a book about the civil war." The bookseller will direct you to the civil war section of the store and might even be able to suggest a title. Please, do not come into the store with a specific book in mind, with only a couple words from the title. The bookseller will not be able to help you.
Lastly, in response to post 232, if you are browsing our books with the intent of buying them somewhere else, you are in effect stealing from the bookstore, because we employees will have to clean up after you when you leave a stack of books somewhere in the store. You also take away from the quality of the new books that we sell. Barnes and Noble is NOT a library, it is a business. Please respect that.
PS- to all the BN employees complaining about their jobs- you have not worked for a bad company. As a part time worker I receive paid vacation and will eventually be eligible for health benefits, among others. I receive a consistent number of hours, and, although my pay is low, I am still paid more than my brother, an employee at a chain retail clothing store who receives minimum wage, a terrible employee discount, and inconsistent (and low) hours.
234 - AL
Good day. I have just waded through several hundred of the comments on this site and have several general comments.
A note about the complaints about late delivery, books that are used when you buy them, on and on.
> If you go to any national retailer with a reasonable problem that they may have caused and ask them to fix it. They will. There is not a general manager or district manager that is not going to attempt to make you happy. Your only chance to be treated like dirt (as described in this series of notes) is to run across a not exceptional GM or DM and treat them like dirt. Then, there is an outside chance they will shovel some manure on you.
> Either way, no one here is really going to listen to you. You will be dismissed by the readers as an immature person that should not really be allowed to own a computer.
A note on comments:
> If you are going to bash, how about using good grammar, spell the words correctly, and do not swear or use words that are just as bad as swearing? Yes, I swear, too, it slips out when I am being ignorant, stupid or just out of control. How about you? I think we can safely say that intelligent (or at least reasonable) people pay very little attention to comments with poor grammar, misspelled words and swearing.
> By the way, do not use capital letters to reinforce your poorly framed message thinking it is going make a reader believe you more or share your wrath (that word means strong vengeful anger or indignation). Chances are that the reader already moved on after reading your first line, writing you off as someone not worth listening to.
A note on compensation:
> So you do not think you are being paid enough? First, chances are you are being paid exactly what your effort is worth. Past that point, you need to understand that you probably are indeed at the bottom of the food chain, money wise. It is the nature of the beast. If you do not see that working harder, better or with a better attitude will make you more money, then leave.
> If you are there for some other positive for you, good benefits, getting to read off the shelf without buying the book (they all do it), the flexible schedule, whatever; then do not complain about the money. You have made an adult decision to take the secondary benefit over making lots of money. Please quit whining.
A note on your manager:
> If you think the manager doesn't like you and has it in for you, you are wrong. Even if the manager does not like you they were not promoted to managers because they are not professional enough to deal with employees as adults. Some are better than others, that is true. You must believe me, none of them were made managers by accident.
A note on customers:
> I can guarantee you that there is not one person that walks through the door at a book store, be at B&N, Borders or whatever that cannot read. Most customers that frequent book shops are there because they are intelligent. Occasionally, they ask silly questions. When I worked for Radio Shack in Altoona, an old lady asked me to show her our line of snow shovels.
> I personally love the one about looking for the book they heard about on NPR last month but only remember it had something to do with the President (yes, I worked as a bookseller at Borders for two years).
> When someone asks you for that book and you have a good attitude then the story is funny and is something to tell your friends about and have a good laugh. At the store though, when they ask for that book, just remember that they are not asking for the book with the green cover about cats just to make your day extra bad. Why not help them so they will feel you tried and maybe you can feel you really tried to help someone?
Summing up:
> I have a friend who works in an auto junk yard (no kidding) who proved to me that he was the most intelligent person in Cleveland Ohio. He told me this:
If you do not like the way things are where you work; you have three choices. One is to decide to work intelligently to change the bad parts where you work. The second is to resign yourself to the bad parts, shut up and just do the best you can. Your third option is to leave.
If you choose #1, good for you. You have chosen a challenge and I hope it works out.
If you choose #2, good for you. You are showing your intelligence.
If you choose #3, good for you but... make sure that you are leaving for the right reasons. If you had the same problems at your last job or you have these same problems at your next job, then it is a pretty safe bet that the problem is not the manager, the customer, the money.
The problem is you.
235 - Dani
Responding to comment #231 .. it's not that we don't like, or aren't willing to do our jobs. It's the fact that, quite often, people will come in and say they're looking for a book, they don't know the title, author, or really what it's about, but it was on . We cannot read minds, and then these customers generally get angry quickly, despite our best efforts to help. I won't say that ALL bn employees are great at customer service. They aren't. But most of us really do try and do the best we can.
And seriously, quit it with the "get educated" crap. I personally have a college degree, and in this economy everyone's lucky to HAVE a job. The "better ones" are sadly, not all that much better at the moment.
All we ask is that customers be civil, not treat us like incompetent, uneducated morons (which is a common occurrence), and we are much more likely to go the extra distance to help in whatever way we can. Realize that we are people too, not just drones there to serve your every whim.
One more thing.. if our store doesn't have the book you're looking for, it's not OUR fault. We as booksellers have no control over what is actually IN the store on any given day. We have no control over how quickly the wharehouse fills your order. Once we click "confirm" on the order page, we officially have no control. And we WOULD put the books that are out of order back in order.. if we knew where they WERE. But customers move them, and stick them back in any random shelf they want. I found a bargain interior design book in the cognitive science section today.
If you have a serious complaint, talk to a manager. Booksellers have absolutely no power or really control over a n y t h i n g.
K, I've said my piece. :)
236 - Anonymous Bookseller
Barnes & Noble is heavily promoting its new ebooks.
But why can't a customer use his B&N membership for a 10 percent discount when purchasing ebooks?
If B&N management is truly serious about selling memberships, they'll fix this problem fast.
237 - Anonymous Bookseller
ebook question ...
Suppose I buy a bunch of B&N ebooks and then B&N goes out of business. Will I still be able to access my books, or will the books I paid for be gone?
238 - We all need to feed our kids
Your complaints are valid. You have a right to human decency. We all do.
But, in our current economic situation, it's not fair to bash a chain for something one person did.
Do you think it's right to keep the registers from being put away and counted just because of your presence at closing time? It's a safety issue. You could be waiting to rob the store.
Don't you think it would be rude if you wanted to go to bed but a guest was overstaying their welcome in your store?
As long as you are there, the cashier has to postpone his/her job and therefore waste needed money and hours that could be distributed later in the week to people who need to feed their kids.
You could make the same complaints about any store. It just depends on who works there. People aren't all jerks.
I'm a sensitive person and would not have become a Lead at my store if my managers were hard to work for.
One last note.
You weren't the first difficult customer to get on that workers nerves.
Most customers expect the service provider to be a rocket scientist. Not every bookseller majored in B&N customer service. Were just trying to put food on the table.
239 - PT v FT
The break requirements are in your employee handbook.
Read it.
If you are full time, you are entitled to an hour.
PT, 8 hr: 30min lunch of the clock, + 2 15s on the clock (that's paid for, so quit your bitchin'!)
240 - Anna
First of, I'd like to say to all the B&N employees here still defending that company: Good for you!!! You must be lucky enough to be working at one of the few stores where employees are being treated right.
It's not the whole company that's bad. B&N is a huge corporation and, as you go down the latter, issues get worse and more often overlooked by the home office.
I worked for them for 6 years. I applied for that job because I love books. The customers (who are not always right, by the way) could be overlooked if the management were more caring about the bookseller's welfare.
The store I worked for had some of the worst managers I have ever come across. Petty, uneducated people who came from all kinds of retail places. I took it all, mainly for the sake of job security and health benefits. Until one day an assistant store manager (whom I personally trained when he first started the job) told me that from then on I'd need to come to work and sit there off the clock until I'm needed. He had the district manager's approval for his brilliant idea.
You know the feeling of being used, abused, spat in the face and discarded? I recommend it, it's highly enlightening. I turned in my keys that very day and never looked back with regret.
All of you high and mighty customers who like to make yourselves feel more superior by abusing the retail employees... I really wish you to be in a situation where you'd have to experience that kind of treatment. And in this day and age where people beg for any job at all, I believe I just might have that wish granted.
I'm glad to be out of there. I'm actually grateful now to that jerk that finally got me angry enough to quit. I never shopped at B&N afterward and I'm sure they don't miss my business. I don't miss them either.
241 - Still Incensed
Update from comment #185.
A few weeks ago, a woman approached the cash registers at my store wanting to return a book. Simple enough. No.
She was beyond her allotted 14 days and was told that she couldn't return or exchange it by the very polite cashier who apologized. The woman became hostile and demanded to speak to a manager.
The manager (who was pregnant) calmed her down and graciously made an exception and allowed her to do an even exchange.
OK. Let's review: by this point the woman has already thrown a fit over something the people in the store basically have no control over and is printed *ON THE BACK OF HER RECEIPT!* and has had to be placated like a small child.
So, the woman goes shopping. It might be prudent to mention that she has her young son with her-- about three-four years old-- who has already had to watch his mother act atrociously.
The two walk to the kids section and they shop for a little while. Now, they stay there for I'd say...15 minutes? Well, after about that much time, the customer service desk is told about a very disturbing problem. The manager (the same pregnant, easy-on-the-customer, exception-making manager) is called and walks to the kids section.
Drum roll please! ..........
The woman allowed her child (who was in her view) to pull down his pants, squat, and shit on the carpet. Lovely.
Then, to add insult to both injury and disgust, she CONTINUED SHOPPING.
The manager (I'll say it again-- pregnant and very nice) was not allowed to say anything to the woman and had to clean it up.
Then, the woman, after about another twenty minutes of shopping around, brought her new purchases up to the checkout counter and exchanged them for the items she came in with.
Let this be a lesson to every customer who thinks that they were absolute angels and were harassed, intimidated, dishonored, or disrespected by an employee of Barnes and Noble. We have to deal with shit like this (no pun intended) on almost a daily basis. Whether you came up to the checkout talking loudly into your phone, or allowed your baby to wail and scream for half an hour throughout the store, or you spilled something on an entire stack of magazines.... we're just trying to do the best we can do and customers almost NEVER make it easy or even tolerable. I love my job, which is why I prefer the morning shifts when we put out new books or tidy up or do projects to the mid-day or night shifts when I would have to deal with the freaks, perverts, and careless dumbasses who never stop coming out of the wood work.
Also, even if you just go to our cafe and sit down politely and don't pull books or anything like that...you're still not entitled to (As happened at my store last week) drink most of a venti drink and then return it with an inch of liquid left in it because it "tasted different".
A woman ordered a venti latte and our cafe lead accidently made it with skim instead of 2 percent... she didn't like it... so, she came up and had cafe make a new one with 2 percent. That's reasonable.
Now, coming back FOUR MORE TIMES and having us waste that much material on you is inexcusable.
Oh, and then after basically consuming three full drinks-worth of product, she returned the drink and got her money back...
242 - Steve Burstein
I get depressed when I think of the years I wasted at B&N being treated like a dog.It(the Downtown Crossing Boston store) was a fun place to work until about 1991 or '92. Then, corporate put their hands on It, and I had to deal with nasty, patronizing managers who'd snap at me over nothing, plus a head cashier who screamed at me constantly and said:"I am you supervisor, you don't talk to me like that!" the one time I stood up for myself.So why didn't I look for another job?You've heard of low self esteem?I've got NO self esteem!
243 - joy
barnes and noble is the worste place to buy a book. their delivery takes at least 3 weeks and their service is disgusting. they are the most unreliable and greedy company i have ever seen. i hope they go out of busines
244 - Gman
If your mad, just orders some books and then refuse the order. They end up paying shipping both ways and have to restock the books.
245 - Stephanie Lynn
I have worked for Barnes and Noble for 3 years and while I don't know all the ins and outs of the company, I can honestly say I really really enjoy working there.
So I don't understand former employees who say they hated it so much. I have worked about 8 jobs in my short 6 years of work experience, and NO WHERE was I treated better or given more respect than at Barnes and Noble.
To customers: be patient with us. Errors in shipping or computer errors may sometimes mean that your book arrives late. It happens, rarely, but it does and there isn't anything we can do about it except order you a new one. No, we cannot "hand-sell" you so many books like small independent chains, but that's the price you pay for greater selection. I will try to recommend something in any situation that I can, but sorry, I don't know anything about HVAC, C++, woodpolishing, etc. etc. I have a broad range of interests, but unfortunately, I don't know everything about every book in the store.
246 - Liza
Honestly I don't know why everyone is complaining. Where I live all of the B&Ns are clean and well run. They usually have what I need in stock unless it is obscure. And then it has come in within a matter of days. I have never been assaulted by anyone, and have never had the credit card mentioned to me. Everyone has been pleasant and wonderful. Maybe it isn't the store chain itself but rather the branch you all are dealing with. I shop here, Borders, Amazon, and mom and pop booksellers. Each had its advantages and disadvantages. However B&N is convenient and my branches are friendly and prompt. I love the employees there. They like to talk to you, and help you find what you need. They want you to have a good experience so you come back. Maybe the reason all the people complaining here had bad experiences is that they made them that way. Think about it.
247 - Worker
Take it from someone who works at Barnes and Noble - we can't carry everything. There just isn't enough space. And, while you might have had a bad experience with customer service in the past, don't take it out on every employee. Most of us are doing all we can to help. Don't treat us like dirt just because you think you have a "beef" with the corporation.
Everyone has to work for their money, there's no need to make it hell for us.
248 - A B&N Employee Speaks.
As a veteran of an east coast B&N who has worked in each department of the store, I need very badly to point out something to many of the customers who have had problems regarding our store. I only hope that some can listen and understand.
Barnes and Noble is, even in the current economic climate, a very successful company. A company does not become successful without consistent and renewed customer satisfaction. For every complaint you post on this website, for every individual dissatisfied customer, rest assured that you are outnumbered by a vast, vast majority of satisfied customers.
I have worked in a number of fields, including several retailers, food service, civil service, and clerical industries. In my years [40+] of working in this country, I can say with strong conviction that the majority of all dissatisfied customers are unhappy because of problems they have themselves generated. Not all, of course. But without a question in my mind, most of all customer complaints originate with the customer's own inappropriate actions. Not just with B&N, but in every business.
At B&N, the most common problems I have encountered involve customers who truly want the impossible, and they want it done yesterday. The real world does not work like that.
If you know you need a book in one month for a class, order it today, not two days before your deadline.
If you know the book you are looking for is very hard to find, do not expect us to have 45 copies of it sitting on a shelf.
If you do not see a book on the shelf, politely wait in line at Customer Service, and we will help you. Our cafe servers cannot help you find a book. They are cafe servers. Our cashiers cannot help you find a book. They are cashiers. Our Children's department personnel are working in the Children's department, and cannot help you find a book on the opposite side of the store [though most will help you anyway].
If we cannot find a book for you, remember that you also have not been able to find the book either, and it is likely that it is not an easy book to find.
We do not have access to the internet from the sales floor. This is a corporate decision, not the decision of the store managers or the employees. We cannot change the policy. Asking us to change the policy is about as useful as asking a gas station attendant to give you free gasoline, and getting upset at us is simply wasting your energy. Many of our stores offer free wireless service through AT&T.
We do not control UPS, the US Post Office, Federal Express, or any other carrier we employ to deliver your orders. We are Barnes and Noble, and we only have control over our own company. If you order a book to be delivered in five days, rest assured that B&N has placed that book in the hands of UPS within 1-2 days for delivery. Once that book is out of our hands, we have no control over it. If your book is late being delivered, you can yell at us all you wish, and all you are accomplishing is making yourself look foolish. We will gladly provide you with UPS tracking numbers, so you can unleash your anger where it is both appropriate and effective, which is with UPS.
If you order a drink in the cafe that is not up to your specifications, we will gladly remake it for you. But be aware that our baristas are trained to a level above Starbuck's standards, and to put it plainly, we DO know beverages better than you do. If you ask for a drink using specific terminology, that is exactly what we will make. If you think we're getting something wrong, please rethink your order and tell us what it is you want, because we are going to give you exactly what you are asking for whether your request is what you think it is or not. As a longtime cafe veteran, I assure you that at least 75% of all customer complaints are due to the customer not understanding what they are ordering.
On that note, please understand that we are Barnes & Noble, not Starbuck's. We are not owned, operated, or affiliated with Starbuck's in any way, other than Starbuck's licenses us to carry a certain percentage of their beverages, and trains us in their creation. We cannot honor Starbuck's coupons, just as one cannot use a coupon for CVS in a Walgreen's. We do not carry the entire Starbuck's menu, so some products you may be used to at your local Starbuck's are not available. This is a decision by Starbuck's, not by Barnes & Noble.
Our stores do not have enough employees to cover our needs. Period. If you waited 10 minutes at Customer Service, it is because that employee was needed elsewhere for those ten minutes. This is corporate policy. Becoming upset at the employees is a complete waste of your time and energy. Believe me, we want more employees. We beg and fight for hours. Corporate has decided that the way to deal with the economic crisis and stay as successful as we are is to cut back payroll. Dramatically. We cannot simply will more employees into existence. Trust me, we would like to.
The only way this policy will ever change is to bring attention to the fact that all our stores are understaffed to B&N corporate management.
Explain that the employees you have been screaming at for not jumping as high as you are asking them to are doing the work of 2-3 people apiece.
Explain that the dirty store you are whining about needs another employee to recover [clean and straighten] the store, because the other employees were too busy doing the work of 2-3 people apiece to maintain an attractive store.
Explain that the rude cafe server who offended your delicate sensibilities was upset and exhausted from working alone during the midday lunch rush, doing a job that is normally handled by 3 people, all by him/herself.
Explain that your 10-minute wait in line to check out was because only one or two overwhelmed cashiers were employed to handle the entire busy line despite the presence of 8 cash registers.
Explain that complete customer service can only be accomplished by an appropriately-staffed store, and that the corporate policy of understaffing stores will make you think twice about spending your money at B&N again. Corporate only understands the bottom line profit, just as any other corporation in the country does, and only threats to the bottom line by customers will make them take any notice.
I know there are a lot of internal faults with this company. There are dozens and dozens of things that are done poorly, affecting employee morale. There are outdated and outmoded ways of corporate thinking that cripple us from doing the job we could be doing. There are constantly more and more layers of corporate beauracracy to deal with as an employee, even in the seemingly simple task of putting a book on the right place on a shelf so you can buy it.
I think most of us honestly want to help you and make your shopping trip as smooth and positive as possible, I really do. We are shoppers and customers, too, when we are out in stores, trying to fill our own needs as citizens. We do understand how it works, from both sides of the issue.
All we ask -- and all anyone from any company can ask -- is that you, as a customer, have as much responsibility in making your shopping experience positive as we do. Do your part, do your homework, understand what it is you really need, and then we can help you. And if we cannot, then it is your responsibility to modify your needs, not ours.
249 - Sarah
Ok guys. We don't make commission off the cards nor the books we sell. Sometimes we have bad days and sometimes we have good days. Don't expect for someone to be nice to you when your being rude as hell just cause were on the other side of the counter. We get enough shit from our bosses and shitty insurance. We just like giving knowledge. Just because we here to serve you doesn't mean we take shit. Us booksellers have nothing to do with management. On the other hand some Barnes and Nobles are better then other. The one in Nashville is AMAZING. Great employees beautiful cafe and extremely helpful people in the music department.
250 - anonymous in texas
ive worked for Barnes & Noble for years and must warn you that at least at my store which i will not reveal due to fear of being terminated by management there exists only anarchy. We are rarely if ever visited by our district manager or human resources and those people that have called our special "Welisn" line the company hails as a direct line to report abuses have been fired or hours cut severely of course only after some time has passed so the people cant link the complaint to their being fired...raises within the company are solely based on favorship with the management team basically if they do not like you no raise...but even management did not get raises last year supposedly due to "financial crisis" within the company and yet the company has enough money to release the nook e-reader which cost millions to produce! This company cares nothing for its employees we have even had a girl who is on drugs all the time at work and has had several customer complaints come forward and i saw her ask several managers for help in getting rehab which the company offers and NOTHING was done for her! On top of that i witnessed the store manager himself and other managers discussing her on the sales floor and saying they wished she would just quit and that they didnt want to help her...when i said something i was told to mind my business...we have another manager who was promoted from within our store that now thinks she is god and daily berates employees including a disabled employee who has been there for years! She goes out for drinks with some of the employees and talks regularly about internal business i know this because the employees she values with this information of course discuss it with others...but she also is friends with the store manager so even i know people have complained routinely about her using our stores open door policy nothing has been done about her rudeness. it is no wonder so many people quit our store basically if you are in good with the managers and i mean like friends with the store manager or the newly appointed manager who thinks she is god you will have an easy job. If you show up and stay out of office politics and try to make the store better you will soon fall out of grace and find your hours being cut..this happened many times and when people went to the scheduling manager to ask why they were simply told we arent making money yet we recently hired like 6 new people one of which at our christmas meeting was said to have been high on drugs!!!! this all may seem like a fictional account but if you ever visit our store you will quickly see its all true...maybe if our district manager or human resources visited like more than once a year to talk to employees (ive never met either) things would change! Word of advise ask around in a store or observe the people there before signing your soul away to this slave pit!