Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Oh fiddle sticks!

Monday in my haste to leave the house spiffy, on day #3 of the cleanest house in the U.S., I smashed my newer coffee carafe.  I was simply rinsing, swirling, and popping the crazy top on that I couldn't stand anyway and sure enough, glass is everywhere. 

Why the cleanest house?  We are on the market baby!  Oh yeah!  

Thankfully I bought enough FREE Nescafe coffee sticks to last me.  That reminds me, the other day at Target a coupon printed for a free 6 ct. box!  Yippee!  It's pretty tasty with my french vanilla coffeemate btw...  That will last me a day and a half.  I need 2 sticks per cup, one in the morning, one in the afternoon or 4 sticks per day...  I still have a headache.  I need STRONG coffee!  That's what happens when you have 3 kids and a dog and you are finishing up your RN...

So I run out last night to find a glass carafe.  Easy peasy, lemon breezy right?  Yeah right.  Not.  3 stores later, I head to Bed Bath and Beyond.  I get the willy's (whatever that means) everytime I pop into a BBB.  In fact, I avoid it.  I was stalked one day with my kids.  I was looking for a couch cover.  There was one on clearance for like $4 and ones on the shelves for $50.  Hmm...  Seems a bit strange for the price difference so I did my best to investigate.  Well I decided on the clearance.  Why not right?  The kids's diapers will leak on it or they will cover it in permanent black Sharpie.  So I had noticed that this associate was paying pretty close attention to me, even handing me my wallet which one of the kids had taken from my purse.  She made various comments, etc, staying pretty close.  I figured it was because I had two kids standing in the shopping cart.  I know, pretty dangerous.  I used to get yelled at all the time in Target.  I swear the kids would stand up as soon as I looked off for a second.

Back to my story...  it gets better.  So I head on up to the register with my $4 couch cover and that same associate is racing me and then passes me.  It was quite odd and I remember it vividly.  I looked in my purse and my wallet was in there...  I pull around with 2 now screaming crying kids and I see her with her hand covering her mouth, "whispering" well talking into another associate's ear, who I found out later to be the manager.  The manager then tells the checkout associate who had just scanned my item and I was about to swipe my card to, "Hang on a second."   Both the other associate and the manager run to the back of the store.  5 minutes go by, 10 minutes go by, I'm getting extremely ticked off...  The kids are crying louder.  Seriously, what could possibly be the hold up?  The line gets longer, now it is 5 customers deep.  I ask the check out associate, "What is going on?"  She says, "I don't know, she told me to wait."  They finally come back, seemed like eternity and the manager says to the checkout associate, "All set."  I swipe my card.

The manager never spoke to me, never gave me an explanation for what happened.  I was so confused wondering what could have happened.  So that afternoon I was speaking to a friend and told her the bizarre story.  She says, "Oh, they thought you were shoplifting.  Did you take the slipcover out of the package?"  She happened to have worked security for a department store in her past life.  Umm, yes, I need to see how big it was and what the material felt like.  And besides, that associate was with me the entire time, talking with me, asking me questions, etc.  WEIRD!

That thought never crossed my mind that I would ever be accused of such a thing.  So I was so mad I wrote a letter.  It ended up being 3 pages long about how uncomfortable that sales associate made me feel and my 15 minute wait at the register and how the manager never spoke to me directly or apologized.  I went back the next day with my husband and handed another manager the letter and told him how awful I felt.  He apologized, almost kind of laughed, I did feel pretty silly at that point for writing a darn letter but I was really upset that I was targeted and stalked in that store.  He gave me a coupon that I promptly ripped up and I never went into that BBB, anywhere, for 2 more years.  They lost some serious business.  I discovered lots of other stores that sell Bed and Bath stuff!  I went in this Christmas and one other time besides last night.  I still do not like the store.  Oh and I returned the slip cover.  lol

Okay, back to my present day story of smashing my glass coffee carafe to bits.  Since Target did not carry Cuisinart so I headed next door to BBB, in the pouring rain I might add.  I was soaked walking in.  So you can see my desperation to get a coffee pot!  I went to the coffee section, an associate ran right up to me asked me if I needed anything, almost jumping right in front of me.  Here we go again.  I said I need a glass carafe replacement.  He tells me they do not carry them.  UGH!  I know they do or did at one time.  He takes me up to the front to speak with another associate and that one sends us back to the coffee section.  Yes they do have them.  $25!!!  What?  I bought the coffee maker for $40, well less than that with coupons and a gift card.  Double UGH!  So of course I had a 20% off coupon, knocking it down to $20.  So I get home and this happens...



It's too big!  It's not the right size.  Dang.  Seriously?  Did they have to change the size of a 12 cup carafe.  Shouldn't 12 cups be 12 cups?  What the?  Thanks Cuisinart.  So now my bargain of a coffee maker just turned expensive.  If I had just bought the carafe-less one like I really wanted, also by Cuisinart, but couldn't come to terms with the $90 price tag, this never would have happened!

Oh, the perils of being cheap...  I mean, oops, savvy of course! 

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