Due to popular demand I am putting up Matthew and my most recent experience at Babies R Us. Enjoy!
December 27, 2010:
While Matthew and I were visiting in Colorado we decided to take advantage of being able to shop at Babies R Us seeing as we don’t have one in Great Falls or actually anywhere in MT. We set out for the baby store with anticipation and excitement. “We are going to finish our baby shopping!!” we thought “what fun!”
We walk into the store and head straight for the strollers, then on to bedding, mattress pads, baby clothes and four hours later our final stop at bottles where at this point we have to call my mom for advice on which nipple size and brand to get. By the time we finally get to the cash register Matthew has one foot out the door and I am so completely exhausted that I stand at the counter looking stupidly at the attendant who with a very genuine smile asks how I am, starts reaching over the counter and pulling our items out of the cart. “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!” I say as I quickly start helping her empty our basket.
The last item to be rung in is of course our stroller which she then asks if we would like to buy a two year insurance policy on. “ummm… “I say looking at Matthew who is shaking his head. “Umm… I’m sorry what was the question? How much is the insurance?” She politely answers my questions and assures me it is a very good idea to get insurance on a big purchase like a stroller. Looking over at Matthew who is still shaking his head and myself being entirely too tired to understand what decision I am actually making replies, “no thank you” and we move on.
Next question, “would you like to close your registry at Babies R Us today? It will save you 10%” “Close my registry? No, I still have items on my registry.” “ are you sure, you have an awful lot here and it will save you 10%” “ yes I am sure, please do not close my registry” I say in a zombie like voice, baffled at why I would ever want to close my registry when it is not quite finished. Next question, “do you have your Babies R Us membership card?” Oh yes! My membership card, I have one of those. I go digging through my wallet trying to find what I did with the shiny silver card. It is nowhere to be found. We try looking up our phone number, nope, our last name, nope. Finally I decide that the easiest way to get the number is to call my mom who also has a card and write down the number.
Five minutes later we have our purchases registered on our Babies R Us card, paid the bill and are walking dumbfounded out the door with our massive receipt. Suddenly as I am looking over our purchases it dawns on me, “10%! We could have saved 10%!” I turn to Matthew with tears in my eyes as he is about to leave the parking lot and tell him what I have just discovered. Clearly sensing that his overly pregnant overly emotional wife is about to lose it, he turns around and offers to go back into the store and see what can be done. When he is out of range I sit in the front seat of the truck and start bawling. Once I get myself together it occurs to me that Matthew has been gone quite a while. I pull out my cell phone and text him to see what is going on. “They have to return all the items and re-ring them and then it looks like they will have to put the saved money on a gift card.” What! A gift card, but we just bought everything we need and we are closing our registry! Before I can text him back he comes walking out of the store and luckily I can see cash in his hand. As he gets into the car he smiles and hands me the money, “here is your $4.10 honey, don’t spend it all at one time.” “$4.10? What do you mean?” “Well, we only get 10% back on the items we bought that were already on the registry, which was about two things. They were going to put it on a gift card, but I asked if there was any way I could get that in cash and they nicely made an exception…”
January 7, 2011
