I have a gripe and some of you of the "What does this have to do with recruiting?" persuasion may not think this belongs in a recruiting forum but I think it does.

Last night (Sunday) I stopped by my local Kohl's (everyone has one these days, don't they?) lured by a flyer that came in the mail a few days earlier promising 60-80% discounts. Anyhoo, after an hour or so wandering the store I settled on a pair of deeply discounted black Size 8 Totes winter snow boots for $23 and change and a Valentine's Day card ($2.99) for my husband. As I'm waiting online at one of the two registers that were open I noticed a large family of seven on the register opposite mine. The mother, (I heard one of them call her mom when he encouraged her to "Do it, mom!") a late-twenty or early thirty-something was disheveled and harried looking, standing there with five (count them - five!) children who appeared to be ages 5 to maybe 13 behind and around her on every side. A big, burly looking husband (boyfriend?) stood at the head of the whole passle, looking on and occasionally pacing to the automatic doors, twenty or so feet away, back and forth, clearly wanting to escape the ordeal as fast as possible.

The cashier, a pretty and perky looking young twenty-something who didn't look like she had a care in the world, rang up the woman's purchases. The total came to 40-something dollars for the exchange of a pair or two of children’s pants and a couple shirts, neatly folded on the counter. The mother counted the money out in cash out of her purse on the counter. The cashier asked her if she'd like to open a Kohl’s credit card; she'd get 15% off if she did. Shaking her head “no” the woman continued to count the money out, much of it in small bills. Not to be deterred, the ingénue continued to press, “You sure? 15% is 15%!” she chirped. “No, I don’t need another credit card,” the woman explained, thrusting the money across the counter.

“You can pay the whole thing off when the bill comes – that way you avoid paying any interest!” the enthusiastic cashier continued. “It’s a great deal – I would do it!” At this point the son chimed in (remember above?) and the husband (boyfriend?) strode back from the door to say, “She don’t need no credit card!” clearly enjoying the opportunity for the exchange with the pretty young thing. Still undeterred, the money-lender continued to assert herself, “It’s a great deal – lots of people do it!” as she reluctantly took the cash and gingerly deposited it into the register.

The kids now, mind you, were standing there just all agog, looking from the fashionably-dressed, svelte cashier to their frumpy mother and, I swear, I could see on their faces their puzzlement why their mother didn’t want to do what this attractive young woman was suggesting. The mother was clearly embarrassed and wanted to just fade away into invisibility if she could - I could that palpably feel her discomfort. I was embarrassed.

“No, still – I don’t need one,” the woman explained, apologetically as her goods were bagged and handed over. With that she beat a hasty retreat, her flock and husband (boyfriend?) in tow, with one of the kids grabbing at the bag to take possession as they approached the opening doors.

Good heavens. Why did this struggle have to occur? Why was this woman treated so shoddily when all she was doing was trying to purchase new clothes for one of her kids? If I were her I would NEVER shop at Kohl’s again. “No” should mean “no” in many instances. This was one of them.

For those of you who have waded through this gripe – here’s the message. This woman was clearly uninterested in obtaining a credit card – the message that came across loud and clear was that she maybe had some experience with credit cards and foresaw the embarrassment she’d have to endure in front of her family when her card was “declined” for good reason. Isn’t this a lot like what got the housing and credit industries in such trouble? Over-extending, over-encouraging, and over-exhorting those who clearly cannot do - to do? What say you?