Ok, this is what happened. We just wanted out of the house for awhile today and didnt have a lot of money to spend so we thought it would be nice to drop in on the two thrift stores in town as we've never been. (We have a goodwill and people in there are always friendly and helpful).
So, me and the three kids go. The first one was unfriendly, but ok. I mean, they had huge signs posted everywhere that you could not use thier restrooms. And they had boosterseats, carseats and pottychairs all lumped togather so I had to dig. In the course of diggin Ive got several booster seats laying on the floor behind me and the kids are sitting in them. An employee comes over to ask me if I was buying. I said yes, but probally should have said, "well, not now". Anyway, I bought a seat and we left.
Second store seemed awesome, tons of toys really cheap. We spent at least an hour picking out what we wanted. Each child had a couple of toys and I had a couple of things as well. I mean, pretty much a full cart, but probally under ten dollars.
Anyway, dd had two things, one was a stick horse, well, pink unicorn that sang when you grabbed his ear. The second was a my little pony. A smallish one she could hold in one hand. She was clutching it with both hands to her chest. She promptly shoved the toy she had previously picked back to me the second she saw it. She loved this thing. (I know a lot of you are in the anticheap plastic crap camp anyway, but thats a diffrent issue!)
We get to the register, my 14 yr old son takes the pony from my three year old daughters hands, she starts to whimper and he says, "Its ok, you'll get it right back I PROMISE"
What happens next may be seen as "no big deal" to some people, but most of you here will realize that it wasnt the toy per se, it was the fact of broken trust and promises.
The woman behind the counter is flipping this stick horse around and around and I smile and say, "Oh, I couldnt find the price either". She says, "It doesnt have one, I cant sell it to you" I laughed, thinking she was joking, until it disapeared behind the counter. She then says, "Neither does this one" of the pony and away it went. About then dd starts to wail, "I want my pony!" I said, "What? You're kidding!" She says no, I mean, this woman showed no emotion what so ever, she was totally unphased by dd. And dd wasnt doing the annoying whiny thing, this was my little heart is breaking, how can this be happening sobs. I argued, to no avail, then she tells me the total and I told her to keep her stuff, Im not buying any of it. How can she sit there and expect I can walk out with toys for the boys and not the ones for dd? Besides that Im not about to give them a penny of my money, now or ever. She then pages someone, Im thinking someone who can price the toys. No, someone to void the sale. So I ask, "Are you the manager?" she says, "assistant manager" I asked her to price the toys and she tells me she cant and no one can until monday. I mean come on, shes responsible enough to have the keys to the cash register but not to price a stupid toy that couldnt have been worth more than 50 cents (it has seen better days). My oldest son then says, as he is pulling out his own money, "I'll pay you more than its worth, I'll give you ten dollars!" She still said no. I then asked her if shes ever had to deal with a toddler whos just been this disapointed she got all pissy and said yes. Meanwhile, dd is sobbing like her heart is broken, she sees the truck that ds2 had picked and said, "Mommy, Todd needs his cars! He'll cry for them!"
Again, nothing, I swear both of these women were just shooting daggers at me. Like we had done something wrong. So I tell ds1 to grab a kid and I grab the other, I say well, she'll just have to cry, theres nothing we can do. We get to the car and when I turn to look, ds1 (he is almost 15 mind you) is crying as hard as dd and he looks at me and says "I PROMISED".
I wanted to go back in and hurt somebody. My mother says that has happened to her and the MANAGER refused to price the items. She says its happened to her multiple times. My sister use to work there and she says, no they will NEVER sell you and unpriced item because the assume YOU took the price off to try and get a lower price. I said, "So, basically, they were accusing me of thieving?" She said yes. Then I remembered the lady behind the counter did say something about "People rub the prices off".
Ok, if I was trying to steal it, why not just stick it in the diaper bad? Look, I may not have tons of extra cash, but I dont need to try and cheat a thrift store. I had $750 cash in my purse. Ok, most of it was earmarked for bills, but I had a bit to play with and thats what we were trying to do.
Im so furious, just thinking about it has me pissed all over again. Monday morning Im going up there and I will speak to a manager or owner, I think Ill write a letter to the local paper. I am going to let someone have it. Big time.
My mother also says that when the tell her they will reprice something and it will be on the shelf tommorow, it never is. My sister says its BS that they have to wait til monday, they CAN price it, they just wont. What a way to do business huh?
Then I had to go to walmart, where I hate to go and buy an actual, new my little pony for $15! Well, I didnt HAVE to, but I did, I mean, it was so not fair what happened to dd and I just wanted to make it up to her. You know, she just got over being afraid to give up the toy at the register and we are always reassuring her that it WILL come right back to her. Now Im a liar.
In dd's mind, by the time we got to the register, that toy was already HERS, afterall mommy said she could have it, right?
I know I should let it go, but I cant. Stress isnt good for the baby, but venting here actually helped. What would you guys do?
