Shaming Barnes and Noble

[democraticrevolution]

Most people who know me know that I am a voracious reader. I read one book a week and it's been two lately. I don't watch much television except for Sci-fi Fridays ( Stargate, Stargate Atlantis, and The New Battlestar Galactica what a lineup! ) which gives me the time to read that much more and truthfully I highly recommend turning off the TV and picking up a book. You can get all your news off the internet too which gives you more of a reason not to watch TV.

I spend a lot of time during the week at my local Barnes and Noble. The staff there is great, but there is something that caught my attention recently. I've noticed as I sit in the cafe, that there is a large amount of flies ( fruit flies I overheard ) that fly around the cafe area. Enjoying that cookie or brownie with your latte? Well, if a fly has it's way consider that five bucks you just spent gone! They hover around everything that has sugar from your snack to the syrup used in coffee near the point of sale itself. And it's not just one or two flies there are plenty of them.

But what really got my attention was what I overheard the employees saying the company is doing about this which is nothing. The workers have asked for a flytrap-like light device to clamp down on the problem, but the company has said that it's too expensive to put in all the stores! So that means the corporate executives all-knowing that they are, would rather their customers and employees work and eat near flies! They say it's too expensive but what are they spending their money on? How much do the top executives earn? How much is the CEO making? How much money do they pay their board of directors? You mean to tell me they can't take care of an insect problem? And from what I overheard it's not just that one store it's going on in, it's numerous B & N stores throughout the area. This above situation makes you think about what a corporation will do to cut costs at the expense of others.

It does not matter where this sort of thing happens. Whether it be in the inner city or Westchester County, NY. This shows the lack of consideration by top management that often rears it's ugly head. But don't take my word for it, go to the B & N in either Hartsdale, NY or Yonkers, NY and see for yourself. Just sit there or go up to the register and look at the walls or near the syrup bottles and you'll see the flies. If anyone else has seen this problem in other B & N stores throughout the country I'd sure like to know.

[NYCGirl]

1. All the ones I've been in in NYC are nice and clean. NT

[niallmac]

8. Could not agree more with your comments about TeeVee but

as for the B&N here in Boise it is pretty spick and span. The coffee bar is franchised to Starbucks.

on edit: sorry, meant to answer the main thread.

[dflprincess]

2. I haven't noticed this at the Minnesota stores I frequent either

n/t

[SmokingJacket]

3. They just need to wipe up the syrup.

I have the same problem around my fruitbowl in the summer. Cleanliness will solve it.

One little fruitfly in yr coffee won't kill ya, though... just fish it out...

[pinto]

4. Take a moment & speak with the manager of your local store. Maybe there's

a solution that has nothing to do with the corporate structure.

[hobbit709]

5. Call your local health department

If they serve food and drink they have to comply with the regulations or be shut down.

[flamingyouth]

6. I've never noticed this at the three B&N stores I frequent.

:shrug:

[RagingInMiami]

7. Borders is better in my opinion

They have more books that I'm interested in, including photography and poetry books.

They also have better discounts and coupons, and if you are buying a book and don't have the coupon, the cashier pulls it out for you, and automatically, you get a 25 percent discount if you're buying the right book (their sales are pretty broad, going by the publisher not the title of the book).

And finally, they have more comfortable chairs throughout the store than Barnes and Noble.

[bryant69]

9. I haven't seen it in the Tallahassee Store either

Giant mutant lizards, of course. But that's all of Florida.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Maraya1969]

10. I worked part time at a B & N for a short while and they had someone

clean the bathrooms ONCE in a 15 hour day, (a professional company came in). You know how crowded those stores can get. Also, not that I am anal or anything but I watched one spot on the wall near a toilet stay there for the entire time I worked there - about 3 months! No one cleaned the walls! I told management about the toilet situation several times but they didn't seemed concerned at all.

I guarantee you, the 7/11 down the street that has the toilet "signing paper when you clean it" is much cleaner than any Barnes and Noble Toilet.

And I hope someone sends them this thread.

Oh, and they pay their employees chicken scrap, they have a very high turnover rate and just like they would not pay for an extra toilet cleaning a day I doubt they'd pay for a fly trap.

[I Have A Dream]

11. The two Barnes & Nobles to which I go are always clean.

(Both the cafe & the bathrooms.) I've never seen any type of flies at either of them. Also, buyblue.org shows them as being VERY blue. :)

[2Design]

12. well they are a blue.org company and very blue and I will use

and visit them often - all the ones I have been in are clean - have extremely comfortable chairs

[WildEyedLiberal]

13. I work at one, and I've never seen insect or vermin infestation

:shrug:

[thinkingwoman]

14. sorry, but that's a local thing

the employees are full of crap. None of that is coming down from corporate and the local manager certainly could do something about it.

Try reporting that store to the local health dept. Seriously. It's not a corporate thing. B&N is a great company and they are VERY good to their employees.

You got fed a line of bull.

[OneBlueSky]

15. accusing the flies of being gay accomplishes nothing . . .

and perpetuates stereotypes . . .

sorry . . . it's late, and I'm ditzy . . .