(UPDATE, August 27, 2006: Just heard from the former manager of this store, who was originally mentioned by name in this entry; she no longer works there, and asked if I would mind removing her name as a result. I'm of course happy to do so.)

(This is a reprint of a letter I sent today to ----- -----, store manager of the Lakeview Borders [at the conflux of Broadway, Clark and Diversey]; I thought I'd post it here as well, to let all my readers know about what happened too. As always, I'll let you know if Ms. Greenwell actually has a response to it.)

Dear Ms. -----:

Hello - my name is Jason Pettus, and I'm the executive director of [my arts center] (a new organization that will be opening for business here in the city next year), as well as a frequent customer of your store. I had a rather nasty experience at your store yesterday that I wanted to make sure you were aware of, which is why I'm writing this letter.

I am literally a daily customer at four of the Chicago-area Borders (yours, Uptown, State Street and Mag Mile), where I regularly sit around your cafe, skimming new books and learning the latest about upcoming authors. It's part of my job, frankly, to make daily visits to local bookstores; among other activities, [my arts center] is planning on producing nearly 600 live events a year at our physical location, and it's of crucial importance that I always know the latest going on in the literary world. On a daily basis I see many of your customers doing the same, but not spending any money to do so; I feel, however, that this is taking advantage of the opportunity your store provides, so always make sure to purchase some sort of beverage or food each time I visit. As a result, I go through your "coffee club" cards on an insanely fast basis, and usually have a filled-out one to turn in at least once a week, if not more (because of many times buying two or three cups of coffee in one visit).

I usually have no problem with turning these cards in, and redeeming the free cup of coffee your store offers for such a thing; however, during my visit on Sunday, August 7th, one of your employees (a woman in her early thirties, with a red bob haircut) accused me of turning in a forged card, and at first refused to accept it. When I complained to the manager on duty (a gentlemen in his early forties, with a blonde buzzcut and glasses), he at first grudgingly accepted the card, then accused me himself of forging it, and warned that future suspicious cards would not be honored.

I wanted to let you know how unhappy I am over this experience, and how I don't appreciate being treated like a criminal by your employees, just for the "crime" of being a loyal and regular customer of your store. I did a little quick math today, in fact, and realized that I in fact spend nearly $500 a year at the various local Borders in Chicago, not only on food and beverages but also the occasional book purchase as well. If your store would rather not have this money, then that's fine with me; I'll simply become one of those multitudes of people who sit around your store for free instead, and read books without purchasing anything.

My friends have been critical of me for the following, but the truth is that I had been planning on contacting you this winter anyway, and formally discussing the idea of partnering with your store when [my arts center] opens next year; like I said, we're planning on sponsoring nearly 600 live events in our first year of operations, and it's my wish that we co-sponsor many of these shows with area bookstores, in order to share some of the publicity and money that will be generated from them. My friends have been critical, of course, because they don't believe I should partner with a store that's part of a monolithic corporate chain, and especially one such as Borders that uses ethically-questionable tactics in order to drive local independent stores out of business. I, however, had up to now been impressed by your specific store in particular, for your commitment to showcasing and promoting local authors, and for the pleasant way I had always been treated by your store's staff. This one single incident, however, has cast grave doubts with me over whether or not I should do such a thing; after all, if I as the executive director of [my arts center] am getting treated this way by your employees, what possible justification could I give our members over establishing a formal partnership with you? I am instead now seriously thinking of taking my friends' advice, and limiting my partnerships with the various independent bookstores in town (Quimby's, Unadbridged, Barbara's, etc), and simply cutting Borders out of the equation altogether.

Obviously this was only a minor infraction - they did ultimately end up honoring the card, after all - so it's my hope that these two employees will not get in serious trouble over the matter. A simple and sincere apology, though, from these two employees, would go a long way towards soothing my anger over the situation. And more importantly, it's my hope that you will take these two employees to task for the snide, secretive way they handled the situation in the first place; neither were wearing nametags, neither of them would offer their names to me when I complained, and in fact your manager on duty flat-out refused to give me the contact information necessary for me to file a formal complaint with your regional manager and national public-relations director. Your employees obviously need to be instructed that such information is publicly available and can be found in a matter of seconds on the web - and that it is not only fruitless to try to hide this information from disgruntled customers, but in fact will make them much angrier as well. I REALLY DON'T APPRECIATE IT when a store tries to make the process of filing a complaint as difficult for a customer as possible, and it's my sincere hope that you will instruct your employees of this as well.

I look forward to whatever response to this letter you might have. I can be reached by phone at [my phone number] and by email at [my personal email address], and of course would be happy to come to the store and talk in person if you'd like. And just so that there are no surprises, I wanted to let you know that I am indeed sending copies of this letter to your regional manager and to the national public-relations director of Borders (Borders Group, Inc., 100 Phoenix Dr, Ann Arbor MI 48108; ccare@bordersstores.com), as well as reprinting this letter in its entirety at my website, so that my 20,000 daily readers will be aware of the situation as well.

Thank you very much in advance for your time and attention to this matter. Like I said, I look forward to any response you might have.

Jason Pettus.

P.S. It goes without saying, of course, but if your store would simply invest two dollars in a distinct hole punch, this entire situation could've been avoided in the first place. Why a store such as yours hasn't done this, one that generates millions of dollars a year in gross revenue, is completely beyond my understanding.