From the bowels of hell they come, picking their way over the fire and brimstone and moving slowly, barefoot, over each inch of white-hot bedrock. They stop for nothing, for no one, they rise till they reach the surface, and when their vile heads see the light of day they wander about, ask directions, and determinedly make their way amongst us until they reach their goal--opening a college bookstore. No mere mortals these.
For when you buy the wrong edition, what human would claim the book is non-returnable, make you buy another, and offer you five bucks for the book that just cost you forty? What mortal would have the audacity to sell a used book for seventy-eight bucks that cost eighty new (bought back for $6.50)?
And what person with heart or soul would forget to stock 2 of the 3 required books for my college class and blame my boss for not ordering enough? It turns out there may be some truth to it. My boss used to overestimate the number of books needed. The bookstore, in order to save the five bucks an hour it cost to get a college student to send back the remainder, started ordering only half what she asked. That's why, for years, they've rarely had what my students needed.
Recently, she brokered a deal with them to order a more realistic number, and now, a month into the semester, my students still can't find their books. My boss called a week ago, I called yesterday, they may have more books next week (week 5 of the semester) and I have had it.
Next semester, I'm gonna pick the books, find them as cheap as I can on the web, and pass the savings onto my students. It's far too much work to further enrich the hellhounds who run this establishment.
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