Friday, April 15, 2005

$9,999.95:

I had an experience today that says something about the mindset of retailers. Or maybe it says something about the mindset of the people who program cash registers. And in any case I’m not sure what it says…

I visited a local supermarket to pick up few ingredients for a meal. Deciding I must have a tomatillo, I grabbed a nice one, noting that there was no price posted for them.

The cashier looked dubiously at and said, “This is a tomatillo, right? Did you notice what it costs?”

I explained that no price was posted, as far as I could see. She sighed, set it aside, and checked out my other items.

I was in a hurry, so I said, “Why don’t you charge me $2.00 a pound for the tomatillo? I’m sure it actually costs less than that.”

“I’ll trust you,” she said, and charged me – now get this - $1.99/pound for the tomatillo.

$1.99? To what purpose???

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