video saga part 2

the day finally came for us to take the destroyed video back to the library. (i guess i should say the destroyed video case. the video itself was just fine.) i got townsend's piggy bank down and we headed over. i coached townsend on what he should say, " i'm sorry i ripped the video cover. how much do i owe you?" as soon as we walked into the library i was a little bummed. there's a really Nice Guy that works there who gives the kids stickers and talks to them. then there's Grumpy Guy. he looks like santa claus but does not act like him. guess who was working?? we walked up and townsend handed over the video and made his little speech. very quietly but he said all the words. Grumpy took the video case, opened it up, and started typing on his computer.
finally he said, "well, i'm just going to charge you for the case and not the entire video."
i was a bit startled i must say. i really thought they would just say, "no problem. this happens all the time." then it got worse.
Grumpy- "that'll be $10 for the case"
me-" i could go to target and buy the whole thing for $10!"
Grumpy- "it costs us $30 to replace an entire video"
so i opened townsend's bank and we started counting out his money. about this time Nice Guy walks up and sees what is going on. he says to Grumpy, " are you going to make him pay all that? he's just a little guy." Grumpy stood firm.
it's a bummer because townsend doesn't really understand money. ten cents and ten dollars are the same to him. i really wanted him to pay something. just not that much.
as for Grumpy. i don't understand putting a person in a customer service position who has no people skills.
live and learn. townsend has not touched a video case since we got home that afternoon. :)