And I understand.

When people come in, demand a book, and act nasty when it's out of stock, and when these people are all asking for the same type of book (and in this case, apparently, the same book), they get a certain reputation among the employees.

Lesson to the neocons: tell your followers not to annoy the help. They aren't getting paid enough to put up with it, but they can't just tell people off. So there are passive-aggressive ways to deal with obnoxious customers. Notice these employees are talking about people who came in and yelled at them for not having the book. Immediately. For His or Her Royal Highness to walk off with right away. Imagine having to order it! Imagine having to wait! It must be a liberal plot!

I mean, the liberals all get their books. That's because many many of them ask for help, and when told it's out of stock or not yet in print, they don't stomp and yell and have a tantrum and very loudly announce how horrible the store and all its employees are. They say, "Oh, nuts. Will you be getting more?" Depending on the answer, they ask to have one reserved, or if they can special order one. And when the transaction is complete, they say, "Thank you. You've been very helpful."

Consider someone who has gotten his attitude for the day from Rush and O'Reilly coming into your place of business and finding himself thwarted. Multiply this out, and realize that clerks remember people who yell at them very well, and they remember people who are rude to them for reasons outside their control best of all. That's what this is about. Clerks at Borders don't belong to some liberal focus group.

This is true wherever you go. The next time someone is rude to a waitress, he had better not ask for a refill of his coffee. It may wind up in his lap. What, she's going to lose her tip? She'd never get one anyhow. If she's skillful enough, she can be clumsy once in a while, and all of her fellow servers will share the vicarious glow of having known someone who let a slug have it.

If people want friendly service, they would do well to be civil customers.

When seeing hoof prints, think "horses", not "zebras".