Office Depot Workers Told To Lie To Customers?

[Azhar]

Typing this on my blackberry so it might have a lot of typos. Let me qualify my previous statement by saying I completely understand having to work at a job where there are policies you don't agree with. However, you can't have your cake and eat it too. If management tells you to do something shady and you do it, you are just as culpable. So I disagree with all these people on this thread who try to blame shift saying. "Management made me do it!" If you lie to me, I don't care who made you do it, you are a liar to me. I will treat you as I would anyone else who blatantly lies to me, not have pity on your poor soul for trying to make a buck at my expense as some of you would have. If you disagree, you are more than welcome to keep making your buck while losing a lot more business through your shady practices.

Makes me think of Enron. Not only the CEO got his ass kicked, but so did the people working under him. The judge doesn't care if you were told to do something. If you know it's wrong, get out of there and report it to appropriate authorities.

 

[nathancipher]

In this case I don't think that's a fair comparison. At Enron they were committing financial crimes and the underlings were complicit. So far as I know it is not illegal to lie to a customer about your inventory. A bait and switch scheme I would think would require both bait and a switch. In this case there is only bait, and it is their prerogative to sell or not to sell to whomever they please.

 

[MavericK]

A bait and switch scheme I would think would require both bait and a switch. In this case there is only bait, and it is their prerogative to sell or not to sell to whomever they please.

Yeah, I believe many businesses have a sign that says "We reserve the right to refuse service anyone for any reason."

That is basically what this is. It's stupid from a customer service point-of-view, but it's not illegal or anything.

 

[Derangel]

Yeah, I believe many businesses have a sign that says "We reserve the right to refuse service anyone for any reason."

That is basically what this is. It's stupid from a customer service point-of-view, but it's not illegal or anything.

Pretty much. The whole misnomer of "the customer is always right" went the way of the dodo a long time ago. In some cases I do believe companies should do their best to bend over backwards for good customers and I enjoy visiting places that will do just that, but profit has to come first. Profit on electronics is insanely low and you HAVE to be competitive. You're forced sell at or below the MSRP on electronics if you hope to sell what you stock. Mark-up on games is so low its absolutely nuts. We're talking like 15-20%, thats it. Consoles are a little better, but not by much. The cheap-ass DVD players have a higher mark-up percentage than video games or DVDs.