Why does Office Max make it a point to consistently alienate its clientele? I went in the other day to purchase a toner cartridge for my laser printer and noticed that they had moved those items to an area that is the very first thing you see on the side wall as you enter the store. (Ooh yeah, one of those high impluse gotta-have-it eye catchers don't ya know) I went over to browse through the selections to try to find my specific model. If you've ever looked for toner, you know there are a myriad of choices and depending on the model might take you a while. There was an isle shelf then the wall shelf, and I was in between, when I head a loud annoying *Bing* Bong* *Bing* *Bong*. Every time I moved more than an inch, a damn alarm would go off.

Apparently management deemed it necessary to put a warning alarm any time someone was looking at toner. It wasn't just a one time ding. It was a constant annoyance going off the whole time you were looking. They were afraid that a thief would abscond with a box through the open doors since the shelves were so close to the front of the store. I was so pissed. I was trying to see if they made a reman version of my toner and was so distracted by the alarm, I gave up. So I just stood there. Finally I got pissed off enough and started moving back and forth making the thing go off constantly. That was until the manager came over about 5 minutes later. She said, in a disgusted tone, "If you don't move, the alarm won't go off." "So I'm not supposed to move?" I replied. "Ya know this thing is beyond annoying and it's a wonder anyone shops here." She clammed up and walked off. I really didn't want to sound like an asshole, but I felt like being one.

This is the same store where, if you want to buy an item that's not stocked on the shelves, you pull a tag and take it to the register. 19 out of the 20 times I tried to buy something there, from software to ink cartridges, they said they didn't have any in the back. Now, if they are out of stock on an item, then why in the hell do they have a whole stack of 15 or 20 tags there next to the empty display box? The clerk then says, "Well we can order from our catalog and have it here in a few days." If I wanted to wait for an item I certainly wouldn't be going into Office Max and trying to buy it on the fly. I'd have already ordered it off the web from somewhere that has MUCH better prices.

With service like this, it's a wonder anyone shops there are all. But I suppose that if enough stores treat customers this way, our expectations will be so low that we won't feel the need to look for something better. It's the whole Walmart philosophy of customer service, "With prices like this, what the hell else did you expect?". The problem is, their prices suck too.