Redefining words to suit a business’s financial interest is misleading, even if the herd animals who serve as customers look the other way, or, even worse, do not notice the fact that the words have been redefined! At a Goodwill store in Phoenix, Arizona, I bought a black suit for singing in a choir. Before I paid, I asked a manager whether I could return the suit as long as I do so within a week. “Yes, you can get a refund,” he replied. Three days later, I returned to the store to return the suit. I approached an available cashier, but she told me that I had to go to the other cashier if I had a return. That cashier was not even at his register, and even when he returned I had to wait at least five minutes for one customer. Only the head cashier can process refunds, whereas any cashier can accept money—an interesting, meaning convenient, asymmetry. Money comes in easier than it goes out.
When the head cashier processed my refund, he handed me an in-store credit card. I asked the assistant store manager why a return was instead being treated as an exchange. “In the Goodwill network,” he replied, “returns are exchanges.” I was stunned. “But the two are not the same thing; returns result in refunds, which are not store credits,” I retorted. “Not at Goodwill,” the manager said in a definitive tone.
Having essentially redefined a return for a refund contrary to the word’s meaning and common usage, the ploy can be said to be misleading. Given customers’ legitimate assumption that a return results in a refund, which is not a store credit, the redefinition effectively involves false pretenses. No good will comes with such a nefarious, deliberate misuse of language. Indeed, the very name of the organization, Goodwill, connotes a lie if the good will under the roofs is lacking.
See "It's Only Fair."
See "It's Only Fair."
