Rant

I wish I could say that I was a fiery Latina... then at least I would have an excuse for the times and situations where my blood really begins to boil.  It is not even accurate to say that I have a short fuse; it is more like a microscopic fuse.  But the one thing that really gets me riled up is awful customer service.

Now there are certain places where I know it will take every ounce of self control and the Holy Spirit to keep from doing the bird salute:  Gueros, the McDonalds on I35 in Waco, etc...  Today, another place was added to the list.

Babies R Us...

It is no surprise; I am super thrifty.  We have been throwing baby diapers into our diaper genie without a liner for a couple of days now, waiting until I could use my March set of coupons for Babies R Us.  Thank goodness February only had 28 days.  I took my little coupon book and stopped to pick up a couple of items.  I juggled my child, keys, wallet and items while digging into the diaper bag looking for my beloved coupons. 

I plunked down my 20% off coupon on the counter and the saleswoman replied, "Oh, I'm sorry, you can't use that coupon until next week."

"What do you mean?  This is my March coupon book," I replied in an astonished tone.

"Yeah, that one is only valid next week.  You need to use the first 20% off coupon in your book, not the second." 

Rolling my eyes, I rip out the first coupon... As she rings it up, she says, "Oh, yeah, you can't use this one until March 4th."  (today is March 2nd)  And with no amount of begging, sweet talking, or flirting would get me the use of the coupon.  I guess there are no savings on March 1st-3rd.  I guess those days are National Capitalism Days.  Are you kidding me...

Are these coupons so precious that they can only be used on certain days?  Would the world fly off its axis if the coupon to date ratio were out of balance?  Buy Buy Baby and Bed Bath Beyond have not imploded by accepting out dated coupons.

And couldn't this woman see how important this 20% coupon was to me... I mean, I was using it in addition to another coupon on an $8.50 bottle of baby soap, and I was also paying in cash.  The only people who pay in cash are people without bank accounts, old Hungarian women who keep their life savings under their mattress, and folks on a shoe string budget using the "cash system".

But my favorite part was as I left, she handed me my receipt and a new booklet of time sensitive coupons.  I wanted to blow my nose on them, wad them up and leave them on the counter.