Barnes & Noble Tells Mom with Crying Child It Was "Policy"

Barnes & Noble has reportedly defended throwing a Park Slope mom with a crying child out of their store. The child began crying after the mother had what she describes as an unpleasant exchange with the store's manager. (We posted about it earlier in the week, after someone sent us an email that had been posted on the Park Slope Parents group.) So, yesterday afternoon we got a follow up and the gist of it is that Barnes & Noble customer service--which may or may not have a sense of the neighborhood demographics in the Slope--said the manager was justified in tossing her and her toddler from the store. Here are some excerpts from the email, which indicates that Barnes & Noble saw the entire email exchange, including the reactions of many other parents in the neighborhood:

I just had the oddest phone conversation with a supervisor from B&N customer service. Apparently B&N customer service not only read the email I sent them but read the posts and responses on Park Slope Parents. I received an email asking me to call a customer service supervisor at their 800 number. I called and was surprised to find out that the she wasn't interested in apologizing or explaining the store manager's actions but rather in pointing out that I had disrupted their business (i.e. because my questions held up the line although there were, I think, two people in line and at least three cashiers working at the time) and that this was, according to B&N policy, grounds for throwing me and my son out of the store.

Friendly corporate policy.