{"id":5883,"date":"2023-11-28T17:45:28","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T22:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/?page_id=5883"},"modified":"2023-11-30T09:56:40","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T14:56:40","slug":"boxed-in","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/?page_id=5883","title":{"rendered":"“Boxed In!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

B<\/em><\/strong>acon <\/em><\/strong>S<\/em><\/strong>crapins<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 \u201c<\/strong>Boxed In!\u201d<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a9 by Barry S. Wolfe<\/span><\/p>\n

Bacon Scrapins<\/em><\/strong> are the little bits of meat left in the greasy fry pan. They\u2019re tasty, but the nutrition needs searching for. This tale is a<\/em> bacon scrapin<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you gonna do with those?\u201d my neighbour Dan asked.<\/p>\n

I had a pile of books in my arms as I was manoeuvring to get the car door open.\u00a0 \u201cHardcovers I\u2019m taking to the Mennonite Store for them to resell, and the soft covers are going to the rec. centre library. I\u2019ve got another paper bag full in the house, yet to go.\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know our library doesn\u2019t accept books older than 8 years,\u201d Dan added.<\/p>\n

Our nine-stop-sign-sized community of \u201cactive lifestyle adults\u201d, most of us \u2018of an age\u2019, has a central recreation centre with a free lending\/exchange library supervised by volunteers. They are literate, and organized, and thus have \u201cstandards\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d I answered. \u201cNo ineligible titles in this pile. They\u2019re all younger than I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is younger than you!\u201d he teased.\u00a0 It\u2019s good to see folks reusing and recycling, including books. I don\u2019t buy books. I get all of mine from the rec. centre or the public library in town.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat works. But you have to order and sometimes wait for a few weeks before you can get the book. I prefer to buy a title I see, either at the Mennonite recycle store, or at Violet Books in<\/em>\u00a0the mall. But I\u2019ve stopped buying at the mall box store, and now just order on Amazon. Same price, or cheaper, and they deliver to my door within 2 days.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy\u2019d you stop buying at Violet Books<\/em> in the mall?\u201d Don probed.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause they have an oxymoronic corporate policy about bags to carry your purchases home in,\u201d I complained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWoe. Stop there. What is an \u2018oxymoronic corporate policy\u2019 about carry bags? How can there be an illogical contradiction about bags? A bag is a bag.\u201d Dan pushed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll explain with an example,\u201d I replied. \u201cWe parked at the box store mall at the north end of KW. Marilyn went in one direction to the card store while I went to Violet Books<\/em>. I asked about a title I was searching for, and a helpful salesgirl looked it up on her gizmo and said they were out of stock. I thanked her and wandered around using my list of authors and titles and eventually found 5 books. One hardcover and 4 paperbacks. While I was wandering a clerk was stocking the 2 for $20 shelf. She noticed I had picked up a mystery title and put it back. She referred me to a pile she was putting stickers on and asked if I had read any of his titles. I perused the back cover and said, \u201cMaybe next time, but Thank you!\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to the check-out counter, and he scanned my member\u2019s discount card (which I had previously paid for). I then gave him a gift card which deducted some more. The plastic card had the amount remaining on the card written in permanent ink on the back, as placed there by the clerk when I checked out last time. Because the card now had no credit left on it, this sales clerk tossed it in the trash bin behind the counter. I then finally added some cash. The purchase cost was $78 and change.<\/p>\n

He pushed the pile of books toward me and asked if I wanted to buy a reusable bag to put them in. It was an awkward pile, and it was snowing out so I told him I didn\u2019t want to buy a bag, just give me a paper bag, please, and I\u2019ll recycle it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cWe only sell bags. They are reusable. It\u2019s corporate policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

I pointed out that I had spent nearly $80 in the store, and I didn\u2019t want to pay for a bag I\u2019d throw away. I just want a paper bag that I can recycle in the blue box.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s corporate policy. We do not have paper bags we just sell reusable bags. Do you want to buy a bag?\u201d he persisted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not buying a bag!\u201d and I took the pile of books in my arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis does not seem to be going well for customer service at Violet Books<\/em>,\u201d Dan observed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNope. I then went to the sales girl I had talked to earlier and asked to speak to the store manager, please. I explained my concern about corporate\u2019s bags policy and I\u2019d like to convey that to her manager. She said the manager was in the back, left, and about 5 minutes later the manager came out into the store to meet me.\u201d I related.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, what did she do for you?\u201d Dan asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked her if I looked comfortable with a pile of books, a book list and a toque cradled in my arms. She didn\u2019t blink an eye, just pretended to not understand my point and asked me if there was something I was trying to say. No really. That\u2019s what she asked me. As if she didn\u2019t know why her employee had asked her to come out to meet me. I got the impression she thought I was an idiot wasting her time. You\u2019d be proud of me, Dan. I didn\u2019t raise my voice. I didn\u2019t add emotional impetus to my tone. I told her I\u2019d spent nearly $80 in her store buying these books and I wanted a recyclable, paper bag, free, to carry them home in safely, please.\u00a0 You know what she said?\u201d I asked him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to guess,\u201d Dan observed.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u201cDid the sales clerk offer to sell you a reusable bag?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood. It\u2019s corporate policy not to provide paper bags. They end up in the landfill. We just sell reusable bags. We don\u2019t have paper bags. It\u2019s corporate policy. I have a cardboard box in the back you can have if you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

I saw a picture of their CEO advertising her recommended books on a nearby stand, and said, \u201cMaybe Feather, the CEO, should be told that her corporate policy doesn\u2019t make sense and it should be changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll take it under advisement. Do you want the box or not?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI smirked mischievously (I admit it) and said, \u2018Yes if it\u2019s small enough to carry\u2019. She went away and came back in about 5 minutes with a cardboard shipping box, about 2 feet long, 18 inches wide, about 10 inches tall. I put my pile of books, book list and toque in the box, and folded the flaps. She turned and walked away, and I walked out with more corrugated paper glued together to create that box, than would be in two dozen paper bags. She probably thought that she had shown her management skills most effectively on the old guy.<\/p>\n

“I wonder what Violet Books’<\/em> corporate policy is if someone buys 4 throw pillows, 5 scented candles, a framed picture, and a children’s book for example. Do they make the customer buy 7-8 reusable bags to carry it all out?” I pondered.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, oh. This sounds like you\u2019ve got something else up your sleeve.\u201d Dan said tentatively.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. I\u2019m writing a letter to Feather Wiseone, the CEO of Violet Books<\/em> in Toronto. I\u2019m going to relate my experience with her mall manager and ask her to reconcile the apparent logical inconsistency that corporate policy concludes that tossing innumerable used gift cards and a cardboard box away is good for the landfills, but a small paper bag (maybe reusable in the meantime) in the blue box isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the oxymoron part. Maybe it\u2019s irony? Anyway, it\u2019s just illogical. Doesn\u2019t matter. I\u2019m also going to enclose my still valid membership discount card and ask her to find a way to process it so it does not end up in a landfill. That would be an \u2018offset\u2019 for the used gift card the clerk had tossed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also going to explain to her how I spend my winters in Florida and will be renewing my Noble Barns<\/em> membership card there and how it\u2019s their corporate policy to provide customer convenience service which includes free delivery of a book to your address anywhere in the USA if they don\u2019t have the book in the store, and it will be on the doorstep within 2 days max. Noble Barns,<\/em> whose style Violet Books<\/em> originally copied, is a bookstore still serving readers. Violet Books <\/em>appears to have lost its focus \u2013 on readers who carry books home in a recyclable paper bag.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll also add that I will be ordering my books in Canada via Amazon, and have them delivered to my door within 2 days. No schlepping to the box store in winter weather, no out-of-stock book titles, no precarious balancing of unprotected books between the check-out counter and my car, no flippant upwardly mobile managers.\u201d I explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd? You think she\u2019s going to change corporate policy for you?\u201d Dan taunted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho knows? Some worker bee downstream probably filters her mail and she won\u2019t even see it. Philanthropists who married into money, and Orderly Officers of Canada don\u2019t bother themselves with the pettiness of the plebeians who buy her books. The old boy’s conscience is clear!\u201d I bragged. \u201cNow I\u2019m off to recycle these books.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bacon Scrapins characters, locations and scenarios are the fictional product of the author\u2019s imagination \u2013 usually.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

You may email appropriate comments for the writer to<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>thisiswilmot@gmail.com<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bacon Scrapins \u2013 \u201cBoxed In!\u201d \u00a9 by Barry S. Wolfe Bacon Scrapins are the little bits of meat left in the greasy fry pan. They\u2019re tasty, but the nutrition needs searching for. This tale is a bacon scrapin. \u201cWhat are you gonna do with those?\u201d my neighbour Dan asked. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4072,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullwidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5883","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5883"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5914,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5883\/revisions\/5914"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}