I don’t know when I’m going to learn that customer service is like the fabled creatures of old. It does not exist. The goblin hunters of the witch of ‘bottom line’ have broken the horn of that unicorn long ago. I am infrequently surprised when I come across a company that treats it’s customers well.

Today another trip to Hastings in Murfreesboro, TN. They have a small coffee shop that is open at 6:30am, and when I’m early for work I will sometimes stop by there to grab something and sit and read. The bookstore itself does not open until 9:00am, so I’ve not been able to buy a book during these times, but I have never gotten any complaints from anyone for reading in a bookstore… until this morning. I was standing in ‘classics’ reading Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s ‘Notes From The Underground’, when this young girl with headphones on her head comes over to me and asks me to leave.

‘Sir, we’re not open yet and I’m going to have to ask you to leave.’ …

I simply replied that I was waiting for my coffee and picking out a book to read while I drank it…

‘Technically I can’t let you do that because “Other people” steal books and ruin it for others.’

Technically.

Now I don’t know what the stop loss numbers are at your average bookstore, but judging from the fact that I was the only customer who had come in for coffee in the 15 minutes I was there, I’d say that they probably don’t lose a lot of money to petty thievery. Certainly not as much as my monthly book budget. Not to mention the fact that the employees at this place are not exactly very attentive when they ARE open.