The Fine Print

Yes, that little tiny type that is in almost every contract you will ever sign. You ever notice notice how well someTV commercials do them? They put up two entire paragraphs of terms and legal obligations of font .002 size for approximately three seconds.

As annoying as it is, the fine print is put there for a reason. If you are able to read it, you'll find out exactly what you are signing. Believe it or not, the fine print usually explains the terms quite well. And by doing so, you'll be able to avoid looking back and saying 'I didn't know that I signed that!' Whenever I have to sign a contract of any type-be it a credit card or a lease-I take the time to read it extremely thoroughly. I want to know exactly what I am getting myself into.

And it doesn't just apply to contracts. If you look in advertisements or flyers for stores, you'll find quite a bit of it. And again, it's put there for a reason!

Just yesterday, I had to deal with an irate customer who insisted that our store ad was "intentionally misleading'. The advertisement had print that read 'selected 12-oz. varieties' directly below the sale price, and the customer didn't like the variety that had been selected. He blamed me for not being able to do anything about it, and he blamed my manager for not doing anything about it. And in the end, we found out that the customer had put 11-oz. and 10-oz. in his cart-not 12-oz.

Dealing with this customer took up quite a bit of time. That time could've been spent helping the lines that developed as we were talking. Instead, a scene was made at the front of the store-all because of the print that wasn't read.

The other side of reading the fine print is that you know what is not in the contract. If the store tries to charge you for things that truly are in the ad, you will know.

The end result is that I really urge you to read the fine print, no matter how annoying it may be. You'll know what you can and can't do, and you probably won't end up making a scene in the grocery store.