Want to know what can make you feel really good? Particularly if you have a couple of kids in school? I'll tell you from my personal experience.
Yesterday I ran to Target with Maia and Mason's school supplies list in hand. They were having a sale on several needed items, so I thought I'd give it a go. Usually, I try to avoid Target on Saturday afternoons, as I actually like to have the room to push my cart through the aisles without running into 937 other people and squashing errant small children. Happily, and somewhat miraculously, I only had to share the entire school supplies section with one mother/daughter duo.
I quickly got through my entire list. I got all 70 pencils, 18 glue sticks, 3 packs of erasers (two different kinds), and the requisite boxes of tissues and Ziplocs (in four different sizes)! I was as giddy as...well, a school girl, that I got every single required item for both of my school-aged children in one trip to the store. I even procured the almost-impossible-to-find-outside-an-art-store "spiral bound sketchbook, notebook sized" (what in the heck are they going to use that for?).
Anyway, in case you can't tell, I was flying high. It felt good to know that I could cross this off my To Do list and not have to stress about it right before school starts back up in August. I won't have to run around to different stores to get all the needed supplies once Target or Wal-Mart sell out of their inventory. Isn't this wonderful?
Here's what not wonderful: pushing my over-stuffed cart to the front of the store and waiting in a horrendous line (Target wasn't empty, only the school supplies section was; it was a Saturday afternoon after all), getting all my stuff scanned and bagged, reaching into my wallet and then realizing that my debit card is in my husband's wallet. Oops! No worries, I thought I'll just get out my checkbook....And that's when I remembered that I'd used the last check and hadn't restocked. Embarrassment was certainly setting in as I stood there racking my brain and rifling through my purse for a solution. Then it came to me--clearly, this was a job for the emergency credit card tucked away in my wallet, right? I mean, no one can blame me for not wanting to put all that stuff back and having to spend another 40 minutes retrieving it all again (not to mention that the sale ended in a matter of hours). So, I glanced apologetically at the woman behind me, whipped out the credit card, dusted it off and put it in the scanner. "Your card seems to be expired," the cashier reported. Of course! I guess the good news is that I obviously haven't had an emergency in the last four months since the card expired; I had no idea.
Thankfully, they have this nifty little procedure where they can suspend your transaction and resume it later. So, I left my overflowing cart, with its contents bagged, to the side and drove back home to get my debit card from my Michael and then drove right back to the store to actually purchase my loot. The thought did cross my mind that I probably wasted the money I saved on the gas it took to go to the store again. It really did put a damper on the good mood I was in when I wheeled away from the school supplies section, but I'm trying to focus on the fact that I am all done school supply shopping and I'm not even sick of my kids being home all day yet! There, now that's something, isn't it?
13 comments:
Oh dear Mendy, you're going to get a reputation at Target. "isn't that the lady who lost her keys a few months ago, now she forgot her wallet?" :-) too funny, I tell you it's that mommy brain, my sister left her DOG up in the mountains a few weeks ago. Didn't realize until they were all the way down the mountain. (45 mins later.) LOL. She has 4 kids too. I tell ya, we'll blame them.
Oh MAN! that's horrible. Jake took both my credit AND my debit card just the other day without telling me. ARGH! Luckily, I have a couple emergency ones, one of which I had to use (when jake took just about EVERYTHING out of my wallet) just before it expired, so I can see how easily this might have happened to me. You are a champ for going back. I would have made Jake do it.
Oh friend. At least you were obviously not the first person that's happened to :)
Oh for the lameness!! I am soooo sorry that had to happen to you.
I'm with you friend. It has happened to me. The setting was perfect-it was like a scene from a movie. At least you can blog about it.
you and target don't mix now, do you? :) that is so funny. from my point of view. from yours, man, i hate those moments!
As a fellow Shopaholic aficionado I can't believe your emergency credit card was expired!!!;) What would Bex say??!! But really that must have been so frustrating!! Glad they had a "procedure" to help you out!:)
This reminds me of my dear Troy, who got the idea into his head to attend the temple before work two weeks ago. He got up at 5 something, got in and was told his recommend was expired. Four months ago. Hmmm. I can't fail to mention that his current calling is Stake Executive Secretary, where at least 70% of his time is spent scheduling people to come in to renew their own recommends. I had quite a giggle about that one. My sympathies, darling. It's just a matter of time before it happens to Sal!
Oh my goodness what a tragic/funny/frustrating and interesting story. Well I guess it wasn't so funny at the time, but this certainly is something to laugh about now. Now I'm kicking myself for not hitting the Target to save on my school crap, got lots of it to buy. OW!
So sorry I wasn't there to pay for your loot. When I was at WalMart last week, I realized my wallet was in the pool bag at home, but since I don't go anywhere without Chris, he thankfully was with me and paid. Don't get rid of that school list. I have to go shopping now. Time for a new emergency credit card!
I think that's fabulous that you were able to get your whole list done. you saved yourself a lot of time and frustration later, even if you had to experience a little embarassment now...
I think that apart from the embarrasment on your part, the experience probably put a smile on everyone elses face as we have all done it at one time or another. My experience at Target was that their card checker service would not clear our card. It would be accepted everywhere else but for whatever reason Target would reject it. With no other card I left to Walmart and seldom ever shop there anymore.
P.S. Not sure how I came to your blog, but a great read!
ahhhh...I can just feel your pain.
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