Usually, the Society sends out PLENTY of books to a convention, so many, in fact, that each congregation normally gets a box of books (60 in a box) to take home with them. If there are 80 congregations at a convention, that means that there were nearly 5000 books left over.
It really TICKS ME OFF that they won't let the poor guy have 8 dang books, but they'll have plenty left over at the end. One of the few things about conventions that annoys me more is those guys standing in the halls with those "PLEASE KEEP MOVING" signs when they're so congested that nobody can move!
Maybe the attendant that was handing out books was really doin' the guy a favor by not giving him those books. It's not exactly a good read...