Most of us have wanted, at some point, to feel like a kid again.

But in this story, he was just trying to buy some books for his young cousin, when he got told kid’s books were… just for kids.

Let’s get the big picture on this small revenge…

You’re too old for the children’s section

Many years ago when I was 19 years old (M) I was at my local Borders Books store searching for a children’s book or two for my little cousin’s birthday.

He was turning 5 and really enjoyed reading whatever kid’s books he could at his young age so I thought I would support the habit.

Also, 19 is still basically a kid, if you ask me.

I enter Borders and head straight to the kid’s section and look around, picking up some books that look like they would interest my little cousin and even laughing at some of the funny things I saw on the covers/first couple pages I flipped through (KIDS BOOKS ARE HILARIOUS OK!!).

They are pretty funny… IYKYK.

As I am minding my own business, I get a very firm poke on the back of my shoulder from a very disgruntled employee.

The employee starts to tell me I must leave the kid’s section immediately because it is only for kids 12 and under and how inappropriate I was being.

Also how creepy I was for looking at children’s books.

I let her go on and on until I had enough and decided it was time for some VERY petty revenge.

Maybe the employee is just trying to be a good look out but… people buy kid’s books as gifts ALL THE TIME.

I let her finish one last sentence and said, “I totally understand. I’ll make sure to leave the kid’s section as no adults are allowed to be here.”

I literally took about 10 steps to my left which put me outside of the clearly carpeted boundaries of the kid’s section.

Oh boy, here it comes…

I stood there as the employee kept looking at me. As soon as I saw a mom and dad walk into the kid’s section with their two kids, I regretfully informed them that their kids could stay and look around the section, but the parents would have to leave as they were over the age of 12.

They of course were questioning my authority to tell them to leave the kid’s section (rightfully so).

As luck would have it, the employee from before came charging over apologizing to them for my remarks and explained that the kid’s section is not only for individuals under the age of 12.

This is a bold move for a teenage boy.

As soon as I heard those words leave her mouth, I of course questioned her and asked why she would have told me the opposite just a few minutes ago and had me leave the kid’s section.

At this point, the couple just demanded a manager (again, rightfully so).

The manager came over and asked for everyone’s side of things.

When I told him I was there to buy children’s books for my cousin, he asked why there was a problem in the first place.

Great question, bud.

I replied, “I’m not sure. Ask your employee, she is the one who approached me for looking at books. I was just informing other customers of store policy so they didn’t get reprimanded like me.”

The manager immediately turned red and walked over to his employee.

I couldn’t hear everything he said, but I could hear him say, “We’ll talk about this later. This is the second time now.”

Maybe this employee maybe had her own set of rules?

So I can only imagine what trouble she got in.

After he finished telling his employee that they would speak later, he came back over to me and the couple.

I started this part of the conversation off by apologizing to the couple for making them and their kids my case in point, to which they said they understand now that they see what happened.

The manager apologized to them as well and then to me for his employee’s behavior and explained that there is no such rule or policy and that I was free to go into the kid’s section, get whatever books I want, and then check out up front.

That’s more like it.

He offered to bring any children’s books I knew I would purchase to the front register and hold them for me so that he didn’t waste any more of my time and so that I could do one last quick visual sweep of what kid’s books were on the shelves.

I thanked him profusely and told him not to worry about my time, because I’ve got plenty. I then sat down on one of the kid’s chairs in the kid’s section, grabbed a book off the shelf behind me, and stared straight at the employee until they walked away.

Anyways, Borders is closed now.

And that’s the best revenge of all, I guess.

What do you think? Does this border on inappropriate or is it sweet, sweet revenge?

Let’s read some comments.

This person thinks the employee was not make any sense or cents.

Someone else suggests this is a poor customer retention strategy.

Another user points out that the genre borders are blurry in books.

Another person says, hey! Kids don’t have their own money!

This poster says, don’t judge a book by its cover.

There’s a difference between Borders and boundaries… and one is OOB.

That employee might need to have her head examined.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.