Have You Ever Been Reading Along…
…and hit a wall?
I bought a book the other day at the used book store. It was a great book, until I got to the last few chapters. Suddenly, every other spread (the two pages facing each other in a book or magazine are called a spread) was blank. So I’m reading along and turn the page to a void. Turn again, and the author’s on a whole nother topic.
Since I bought it used, I normally wouldn’t be too upset — most of the used books I buy are just a dollar or two, so the financial impact is not tremendous. It’s annoying, but not rant-worthy. But when I looked in the front cover of this book, I found that I had paid seven dollars for it.
Now, the used book people can’t really help it; it’s not as if they can read every book brought in to make sure that no pages are missing. I may go back to see if I can get a partial refund, but other than that, they are pretty much a dead end. I’m going to write the publisher — if they’re still in business — and complain. Maybe I’ll get a replacement copy of the book. Maybe they will refund my $7. I figure it cannot hurt to try.
No, what bugs me most is the person who took that book to the used book store in the first place. What a complete lack of ethics! How can you justify taking a book that you know is incomplete — not just “flawed,” but incomplete by more than a dozen pages — and giving it to a store to sell to other people?! That’s just SO wrong! Shows a complete lack of character, in my opinion.