Airport buyer beware
While you're waiting for a flight, you and your wallet are a captive audience for retail shops. Commentator Moira Manion explains how working in the airport can give an employee's conscience a workout.
Commentator Moira Manion (Moira Manion)
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TEXT OF COMMENTARY
Kai Ryssdal: You already bring your own food when you fly. Why not pillows and blankets, too?
JetBlue announced today it's going to start charging $7 for them. That's only flights that last longer than two hours.
The good news is that what the airline calls eco-friendly blankets are made from a fabric that repels stuff like dust mites and mold spores and they come with a five dollar coupon to Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Commentator and retail clerk Moira Manion points out that passengers aren't getting gouged only at ticket counters and on the planes.
Moira Manion: I work at an airport jewelry store, where I convince "clients" to buy expensive jewelry that falls apart.
I don't tell them that it falls apart. I'd like to say, "That will be $375. By the way, the clasp will break in two days. Enjoy." Or maybe, "These pearls are a matrix of European glass bead, then covered with seven layers of crushed Mother of Pearl, which gives them that deep luster, which sounds impressive, except when it chips off a month from now and you see that they're big, honking glass marbles covered with a tissue thin layer of brittle pearl."
Needless to say, I don't get my hourly wage and 3 percent commission for honesty.
It's not easy to look in the mirror with a clear conscience after I've seen a guy happily spend $800 on a necklace as an anniversary gift for his wife and I know it's not worth half that price. But is it any worse than selling cheeseburgers to the obese? People at McDonald's don't say to hefty customers, "Here's your change and a copy of "Super Size Me." I hope I never see you here again." I can try to justify it by thinking, "Let the buyer beware," except how can they be aware if no one tells them?
At prices like ours, people automatically assume they're getting their money's worth. If earrings cost $300, they must be well made, right?
What's worse is when clients return, broken jewelry in hand. They demand to know what I'm going to do about it. But I can't do anything, except smile and say that we can repair it for a $35 fee.
My mother didn't raise me to be a scam artist, so there was only one solution for me: I quit. I now work at a coffee shop in the same airport. I'm paid less, but I earn great satisfaction in seeing cranky, tired customers get a smile from their coffee, like big toddlers with sippy cups.
But now I have a new moral conundrum: I don't think these big, happy toddlers know how much fat and sugar are in those sippy cups. And I'm not allowed to tell them.
Ryssdal: Moira Manion works at the airport in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Comments
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08/18/2009
Ms manion is the epitimy of a person without a life. She whines about everything and when she claims her co-workers support her, you got to see where she works in a kidfs store, and you would laugh as we all do. This is a self proclaimed train looking for the next place to wreck. Meaning, she has burned every bridge (store) she has worked at and has no co-workers. She is a loner, indulging in hate, misinformation, and sue happy.....
No one likes her, she is abusive and argumentative and finds fault with everyone and everything. If you ever are unlucky enough to see her wondering amlessly in the airport, she is always by herself, has no friends, and exemplifies a hatefull look on her face ALL the time. She says she is working undercover at the Minneapolis airport writing a book on retail employment. (MAC should know what she is up to)Anyone who reads her rants should be able to see how lonely and how hatefult this train wreck is.
Moira, do yourself and everyone around you a favor and jump of the building you live in. You won't be missed, beleive us all......
You and your rants, s u c k.
From austin, TX, 08/05/2008
Caveat Emptor doesn't cover Ms. Manion's legal liability. When she conspired in a fraud to sell marbles as pearls, she committed a crime. It is sad that she didn't realize this, and that she is excusing her behavior by comparing it to non-criminal behavior--i.e., selling consumers unhealthy food-not yet a crime. Telling those consumers they are buying beef when it is really dog meat--that would be a crime.
From portland, OR, 08/04/2008
As someone who works in a shop specializing in antique jewelry restoration, I am amazed at what junk people sometimes bring in... Airport stuff is bad, but cruise ship stuff is even worse!!!
08/04/2008
hello moira!
calorie counts are easily available to any literate adult. f'rinstance, my sugarless cup o' joe with half and half equals 125 saturated fat laden c's. as a barrista, caveat emptor is neither heartless nor unethical. your customers
have all the info they require for an informed purchase. your job change was well done!
08/04/2008
Ms. Manion says that she feels guilty for not pointing out to customers what is wrong with what they buy or decisions they make. I was particularly struck by this comment:People at McDonald's don't say to hefty customers, "Here's your change and a copy of "Super Size Me." I hope I never see you here again." I can try to justify it by thinking, "Let the buyer beware," except how can they be aware if no one tells them?
Ms. Manion, why do you assume that they don't know, or that only the obese eat at fast food places, make poor nutritional decisions? Or that they are the only ones who get clotted arteries, high blood pressure, or heart attacks? And why is it your job to tell them something they may already be aware of? Who appointed you this job? Are you one of those people who come up to fat people to tell them they are fat? What makes you think they are too stupid to know that? Please credit people with the responsibility, if not the ability to figure things out for themselves.
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