Monday, December 12, 2005
Christmas at Border's
Dear Borders,
I just visited your store on L Street in Washington,DC, and I wanted to let you know of my disappointment in your store displays.
This particular store currently has a special section of Christmas books and other items. The signs above these books say "Holiday items." There is a display of Christmas cards, labeled "Holiday cards."
There is also a section of books about Hannukah, and it is labeled "Hannukah Books."
Can you please tell me why Borders thinks it's OK to use the word Hannukah, but not the word Christmas? You probably think that non-Christians will be offended if you call the books about Christmas "Christmas books." But for some odd reason, you don't think that non-Jews would be offended if you call the books about Hannukah "Hannukah books."
To use the word "Hannukah" and never use the word "Christmas" is, simply, offensive.
I would have talked to someone in the store about it, but I'm certain that these signs were decided upon, manufactured, and distributed at the corporate level.
I would appreciate a response and an explanation.
Thank you,
Matthew Astle
The response I received from Border's:
Dear Matthew:
Thank you for writing to Customer Care about your concerns for the L Street store.
During the Winter Holidays, Borders must promote for a wide audience in mind and we attempt to include as many general customer needs as appropriate while balancing our own. Although Robert Sabuda promotion does include elements that have been affiliated with Christianity and Christmas, we realize your concerns.
Feedback from valued customers like you is essential to us as it allows us to keep in touch with areas where we can improve
our services. Your suggestion will be included in our regular reporting to our various departments and in information presented to the executives at Borders. While I cannot guarantee that a change will be made, we appreciate your sending us your ideas.Thanks again for taking the time to write to us. If you should have any other thoughts on how we can improve the shopping experience at Borders stores, please don't hesitate to share these with us.
Sincerely,
Dan
Borders Customer Care
Raise your hand if you think Dan answered my question.
Comments:
There must have been some confusion because I got Dan's real letter in response to yours:
Dear Matthew,
Thank you for writing to Customer Care about your concerns for the L Street store. You're obviously very perceptive--either that or looking to pick a fight. As explained below, though, we don't care.
As you are no doubt aware, we at Borders want to exploit the Christmas Season (I shudder even to say the "C" word) for all it's worth to extract every last penny that we can from our customers.
With that in mind, we've started realizing that most of you Christians are so anxious for acceptance, or so comfortable with your faith already, that you don't mind if we tread on the X-mas holiday (ahh, that phrase rolls off the tounge much easier) in order to appeal to a wider audience (which we feel instictively is out there somewhere).
Remember too that one of life's fundamental rules, which your letter seems to ignore, is that no one need worry about offending the majority--it's part of the price you pay for being in the majority!
So, for the reasons mentioned above our ultimate aim is to remove the religious significance of the holiday entirely, leaving people to eventually attach any meaning they want to the Holiday without any of the pressures of religious intonations (as long as this new meaning still involves opening your wallets). Obviously you'd still be within your rights to look at December or December 25th as religious season or holiday respectively, we simply ask that you keep that to yourself so as not to scare away customers. We think that's only fair.
Thanks again for sending your ideas. Rest assured, there won't be enough of you Christians complaining to actually get us to change anything (See the reasons noted above). Hopefully, this letter has convinced you that any future letters will be futile, but thanks for writing.
Happy Holidays,
Dan
Borders Customer Care
I suppose he could have explained the discrepancy, but he probably was not directly involved in the decision-making process. Maybe the inconsistency was an oversight. Maybe the displays for the sections were handled by different teams.
I suppose he also could have promised to have it corrected, but he probably isn't directly involved in that decision-making either.
He did promise to make sure your concerns were made available to those who do make such decisions in the future. I think that's more than most large corporations would do with the complaint of single customer.
Maybe next year you'll find the displays have been changed. Perhaps then you'll repent of your quick judgment and lack of "Christmas spirit."
And I realize that Dan has no power to do anything or explain anything. I also realize that there are worse things in the world that calling "Christmas" "Holiday," as though the day commemorating the birth of the Savior of the world were offensive or crude.
What puzzles me the most is that section labels in Border's should be descriptive. If you find Christmas books offensive, it would actually be a good thing to label the section with the Christmas books "Christmas books" so you don't go poking around thinking you might find a book about St. Patrick's Day or Halloween. If Border's were to sell books about Satan worship, I would hope the sign near that section would read "Satan Worship," not "Alternative Ritualism" or something less specific.
