Joy of Shopping, Ease of Returning

I have to say that shopping in New York is pure pleasure. The main reason is this: you can return everything. You make the purchase without fear of being overcome by doubts once you come back home. Even if the doubts do appear, they will vanish by the time you get back to the store and return the item. I remember when I got a pair of shoes that proved disappointing once I got home. For a week, I was very anxious about returning them – especially since I threw away the tag with the bar code. I finally mustered some courage, went to the store and started uttering my much-rehearsed explanation, the dutiful communist-raised Polish girl that I am. „I would like to return those, because…”. The lady behind the counter cut me Short by saying: „OK”. She took the shoes, scanned them, put a new tag on and gave me the cash back. Everything took about 2 minutes. I left the store practically jumping with joy.

A couple of days ago I was buying the Magic Bullet smoothies blender (which I highly recommend), and when I was still making up my mind, the store clerk lady came up to me and said: „Try this one and if you don’t like it you can return it, just keep the receipt, you can throw away the box”. As she was walking away, she added: „In fact, you don’t need to have the receipt, either, it’s just that they will take 20% off the cash return if you bring it”. That put me fully at ease and I came into possession of a fantastic device. I feel no fear, since I know I can return it – now or much later. Yes, this is the consumer service in New York – if after 6 months I suddenly decide the device doesn’t satisfy me, I will just grab it and return it, with no need of long explanations and – even more crucially – of suffering a condescending look of the shop clerk.