"all stores except Toys R Us allow their managers discretion"

Not true. Target is also very stringent with enforcing their policies, as evident from the number of letters we get complaining about it.

I also don't see where you were treated horribly. No, they didn't budge on their policy, but "no, we won't make an exception for you" does not always equal horrible treatment.

As someone who worked retail for many years, the idea of allowing exceptions to policies sounds great in theory, but in practice it just leads to more problems than solutions. By enforcing a policy across the board, it's much more fair (except of course to those who want exceptions to it).

And once again, I wish more people understood the concept of gift receipts. If they did, we would see a lot less letters about this issue.