I just pre-ordered last Sunday when I went in for the last day of the 50%. One guy was ringing out just the game with no book, when one of the longtime employees saw it was me and said "oh it's for you; you get one of these!" (Don't worry: I'm pretty sure I wasn't taking one out of someone else's hands; they had a stack of them hidden away behind the counter, and this store doesn't too a ton of sales with these niche kinds of titles).
Sometimes it does pay to be friendly and courteous to your local clerks; and throwing them a bone in the form of a pre-order does go a long way sometimes. I have always like almost all of the employees in the local stores I frequent, and just go in there to shoot the bull with them every now and again when I have some free time. They almost all know me by name, and have been eternally helpful in holding games, getting stuff transferred from other stores, holding pre-orders beyond the two day window for me, and often even giving me first dibs on pre-ordered stuff that has not been picked up.
I've found it doesn't happen too often in our society anymore, but every once in a blue moon it does pay off to be kind to people.