Why would she think we were trying to steal her $8.49?

A woman called (apparently three times within 24 hours before reaching a human (me, yay)) and was very upset. She needed the book she ordered NOW to send to Minnesota for her niece’s birthday. I looked it up and realized the book had gone on backorder and we had failed to update her on the delay.

I apologized profusely. I offered to cancel the order. She said something that made it sound like we weren’t going to refund her money. “Of course we’ll refund your money,” I said. Why would she think we were trying to steal her $8.49?

But if you need to send something now, I said, might I suggest a few books that we have in stock that you could pick up today? Suspiciously, she asked what I had in mind. I named two titles and told her I could send over a more expansive list to choose from.

“And will you also issue the refund?” she asked. 

“Listen,” I said. “Would it be alright if we wait to see if you want a different book? And then we can issue an exchange. If you don’t find anything you like, we’ll refund.”

I really didn’t want to pay whatever fee I’d incur from issuing a refund, only to have her turn around and charge a different book two hours later.

She grudgingly agreed. I emailed four title suggestions right over. Didn’t hear from her. Called a few hours later to make sure she got it. She did. “I’m just checking with my sister to make sure my niece hasn’t read all of these already. She reads a lot.”

People act like there aren’t 1 million books published every year. 

She called the next day to tell me which book she wanted. She said she would pick up the next day (Saturday) or maybe Monday. Apparently it wasn’t so urgent after all. She said, her tone completely different from the last time we spoke, “You sent over such great suggestions. My niece was so impressed. She said we were so lucky to have an independent bookstore in our neighborhood that could do such a good job.”

The book she chose was $2 more than the one she had ordered. I just ate the cost. Canceled the other order. Moved on to the next thing.