What's to Explain?

The sign was perfectly clear. "Clearance 50% Off". Nothing hard about that one. Math has never been my strong suit, but I understand half off.

We were in Stonebriar Mall, Frisco. The sign was at Apricot Lane, a boutique shop inside the mall. On the table with the sign were stacks of Miss Me jeans. (For those of you who are not "in the know" - Miss Me Jeans are the latest in status wear. They are typically priced at $100 per pair. So finding them for $50 is really, really good.)

It was good enough to get one of the girls into the store. (In truth, it was good enough to get both of them in, but one of them hadn't finished her pretzel yet and she couldn't take it in the store.) A good thirty minutes was spent trying on jeans. The fit was close - a few alteration would be required, but at 50% off, one could afford to pay for the alterations.

Then when my daughter-in-law got to the check out the jeans rang up at $30 off rather than $50 off. She pointed out that the sign says 50% off. The clerk told her that didn't apply to those Miss Me Jeans. There were "some" Miss Me Jeans on sale, but not those, and not 50% off. She pointed out that $30 off was still very good. Yes, it is. But not when the sign says 50%.

The manager was summoned.

"Oh. I should have been there to explain that the sign didn't apply to those jeans."

Seriously lady, do you think you need to "explain" the sign? There aren't that many ways to misinterpret a sign that says "Clearance 50% Off". Do you really think that manager was going to stand next to the sign to tell everyone who stopped to look that the 50% off merchandise was hidden deep inside the store and had absolutely nothing to do with anything that was on the table? Sorry, the intention to mislead was deliberate. If you get people into the store, they might agree that 30% off is really okay or they might find something else they like. Just get them in the store. But every now and then, you find people who think that if the sign says 50% off - you should actually sell the item for 50% off. We are those people.

After expressing disdain for their less than scrupulous business practices, we continued through the mall and eventually came to Buckle. They had an unadvertised sale. It wasn't 50% off - but they were truthful about it. We bought the Miss Me jeans there.