In which I am pissed off at H&M

I have made no secret of my love and admiration for H&M. While it is definitely a self serve sort of place (service? What service?) I always manage to find cute things there that, even though they are manufactured by the millions, still manage to be cute, unique and garner me complements. Which is why today was so disappointing. I mean, I expect crappy service but today's lapse was, by American or even Norwegian service standards, appalling.

So, I found a cute dress at the H&M on Long Acre street, by Covent Garden. (Yes, I am in London a day ahead of Julia so I can get my shopping yaya's out of the way so she won't be bored. Yes, I am an AWESOME friend.) There was a sign above the rack that said all the dresses on that rack were £10 off. Hey, not a bad deal, that was like a 30% discount, and I liked the dress, so SCORE.

Except, when I went to go pay, the girl at the checkout rang it up at full price. I pointed it out to her, and she said that the discount only applied to dresses on the OTHER side of the rack. But....But...the sign directly above my dress said £10 off. Why would they put a sign on that side if it only applied to the other side? "Oh", she said flippantly. "Our signs only come two sided. So we had to sign both sides, it's how our sign holders work. The other side is not on sale".

"Um, what? Your signs only come two sided and none of you Einsteins thought that maybe it was possible to COVER the side that did not apply?" (I asked that, but without the Einstein remark.)

"Well, nobody else has said anything until now".

Ok, listen sweetie. I have worked retail for many years. I've been a manager, a visual merchandiser, a sales person and everything in between. I've been a poet, a pauper a pawn and a king. I've been up and down and over and under...oh rats, that's off topic.

If the SIGN SAYS IT, THEN THAT IS WHAT IT COSTS. IF YOU MADE THAT MISTAKE AND MISLED ME, THAT IT YOUR PROBLEM, NOT MINE. As a gesture of good faith, you give me the PRICE THAT IS SIGNED! If you don't want to give the discount, then cover the sign! This is basic retail management/customer relations/me not kicking your ass basic intellegence.

I called over a manager. Explained the situation. She said, "But our signs come two sided."

Gah! And does your amp go to 11, you stupid git?????

Guess what? They wouldn't give me the discount. Didn't care, no discussion, fuck you, we're H&M and there are people in line behind you and we are a Giant Conglomerate with No Soul.

I didn't buy the dress. And that pisses me off even more because my PRINCIPLES got in the way of CUTENESS and that is INEXCUSABLE.

I am now drinking beer to assuage my anger. DAMMIT! I could have been drinking beer in that CUTE DRESS!