Rejection 95: Borrow a Book from Barnes & Noble

In the past few rejection attempts I have failed to get a rejection, even with the most ridiculous request (flying a plane). I almost felt as if the pain desensitization effect was wearing off. So this time, I again went to a big corporation – Barnes & Noble, to get some Rejection Therapy treatment. I tried to borrow a book from them as if they were a library.

I received the same answer after two tries. They even both provided good alternatives: buying a book then returning it in good condition or sitting in the coffee house and reading it there. Maybe it was the smiles, or the tones they used, but the rejections felt they felt very different. In the end, the rejections were given by two different people with very different personalities.

We often think customer service reps are cogs within giant corporate machines. While they are different across company lines (Apple Genius’ = cool, cable reps = not so much), they somehow should all have similar personalities within the same company. In reality, they are just regular people like you and me, and sometimes vastly different from each other.

Learning: They say beauty is in the eye of the beholders. I say rejection is in the tone of the rejectors. When you are already saying 'no' to someone, be nice. :)