"The Art of Printed Word"

Today my mother and I decided that we wanted to stop and check out a used bookstore that was going out of business. We had been there before and were aware that most of their inventory consisted of romance novels, but we knew we could probably find something good.
I spent a good while walking around the store looking for titles or authors that I recognized, or maybe an interesting cover. All of their used books were $1 and all new books were 40% off, so I just grabbed things I wanted. One of these things was the first volume of Dante's Inferno, brand spankin' new. I figured it would be a few dollars- after all this is a used bookstore. My mother got 14 books, I had 9 in my hand when I went to the register. She rung up the Dante's Inferno and told me my total would be $16.
Now, I know $8 doesn't seem that bad for a book, but I am a college student that has tuition, gas, and various other things to pay for. I politely told the woman behind the counter I did not want to purchase that book, just the 9 others. She put it to the side and asked "How much would you be willing to pay for the book?"
I replied, "Maybe a dollar or two. I'm kind of on a budget with tuition and everything". She continued to ring up my other books and said (this is what got me mad) "I guess you'll have to think about how important the art of printed word is to you."

UHM, EXCUSE ME. DO YOU SEE THE 9 BOOKS THAT YOU ARE RINGING UP RIGHT NOW?

EIGHT of those books are just for me. I was appalled. 1) that she would be so rude and 2) I wouldn't be buying these books if I didn't "appreciate the art of printed word".
I am also convinced that she didn't give me a bag for the many books that I did purchase, just because I did not want to pay $8 for the Dante. I left the store fuming. As we were leaving my mother made a comment to the woman that I did need to pay my very expensive tuition, and what did the woman do in reply? Shrug and roll her eyes.

I cannot believe that she would act that way. I was blown away.

To end this post on a happy note, the books that I purchased include The Help (This is for a friend of my mom's who is going to be having surgery soon and will need something to do), The Harvest (a BTVS novel), Invincible Louisa (The story of Louisa May Alcott), Jane Eyre, Moll Flanders, and Silas Marner (all from my Classic's Club list), as well as a book of poems about cats by T.S. Eliot, and a novel titled A Yellow Raft in Blue Water (the back blurb of this book intrigued me, so I got it).

Maybe the lady was crazy with the heat and humidity that we are experiencing in the south today, or maybe she is just rude and wanted to sell her book so that they could go out of business faster. Who knows, whichever way, I will not let it ruin my day or my attraction to paper books over electronic.