To whom it may concern:

My family and I visited your center on July 27, 2007.  We had a nice time and enjoyed every part of our visit except for the end in your gift shop.  Apart from the annoyance of it being blisteringly hot in the shop, we were accosted by an individual whose name I don't recall, but I'm sure, once you read this letter, you will know exactly who I am referring to.

Your shop was selling polished stones and magnetic stones "by the bag".  The listed prices were $4 for a small bag of polished stones, $7 for a large bag of polished stones, and $5 for a bag of "sticky stones".  There were no other signs posted indicating how many stones should be in a bag or any other special requirements. We had purchased some bags of stones just like these at the Polar Caves the day before where we were encouraged by the staff to "stuff the bag".

While I was sweating in the heat (it was 90 degrees outside) and selecting stones that might look good in my still life photographs, I was approached by an elderly gift shop employee who said to me "Just to let you know, you aren't allowed to overfill the bag, it has to close."  My bag was not overflowing, but it was bulging because I was trying to pack it tightly.  I took a few stones out of my bag and closed it.  I was then informed that the bag must close "comfortably" and that if I tried to buy the bag as it was "they will catch you at the register".  Given the heat (and the miserliness of your staff) I was running out of patience and said "I'll just pay a couple of extra dollars at the register if it is an issue."

I'd like to point out that having already spent well over $50 just to get my family into your center for the afternoon, and another $15 in the café for snack food, and being about to spend about $60 for gift shop items, I was offended that I was being hassled over a few pennies worth of rocks.

When I arrived at the register, the cashier was completely unfazed by my bags of stones and began ringing them up.  Within seconds the same woman swooped in and informed the cashier that I could not purchase my bag of "sticky stones" because it was overfilled.  I immediately said to the cashier "it's hot, I'm not going to go fill a second bag, please charge me two extra dollars."  I could have easily closed the bag by removing only a few stones, but I figured that offering far more than the extra stones were worth should be good enough.

The cashier seemed to think that would be fine and repeated my offer to the officious employee.  I was being more than generous, and yet, it wasn't good enough.  I was informed I would have to buy a second bag of stones.  So I set the bag aside and informed the cashier that I wouldn't be purchasing it today and made clear with my tone that I felt the entire exchange was patently ridiculous.  At this point, the officious employee launched into a speech about how your center is a nonprofit organization, as if I needed that explained to me.  I didn't appreciate the implication that I was somehow being greedy.  I am an Audubon Society member, and I always donate when I visit wildlife sanctuaries even though as a society member I am not required to do so.  Someone was being greedy that day, but it wasn't me, having sunk a total of about $125 into your coffers for a 3 hour visit.

I waved the obdurate woman away and reminded her that I had just offered to pay extra.  Nonprofits don't turn away money when it is offered without strings, so this had nothing to do with your center's nonprofit status, and everything to do with someone who doesn't have enough important things to worry about.  Nonprofits are typically very flexible, because flexibility equals greater donations and thus allows the nonprofit to do more for the greater good.  I'm sure I don't have to explain that to you, but clearly you need to explain it to a certain intransigent member of your gift shop staff, because it cost you $7 during my visit, and since I was so insulted and angered, I don't really see myself or my family returning to your facility again, which means it probably is going to cost you quite a bit, considering that only minutes before my wife and I were talking about purchasing a membership.

The irritating woman left and the cashier apologized to me and made clear with her expression that she too felt the other employee was being unreasonable.  At the very least, if you are going to sell items "by the bag" and are going to impose stringent restrictions on what a bag can contain, there has got to be a more sensible way to do it than to have an employee hovering over customers and pestering them.  Like perhaps a sign that says "No More Than 12 Stones Per Bag" or an example bag with a sign saying "Your Bag Should Look Like This".  Or simply sell the stones individually.

Though in the future I will certainly encourage folks to visit your facility, I'll be cautioning them about the gift shop.  When folks visit such shops we know we are paying too much given the value of the goods, but we do it anyway because it is for a good cause.  The last thing one should do in such a situation is harass the visitors and needle them for more money.  I would have thought that was obvious.