I probably shouldn't have been in the game store in the first place since my husband and I gave up on "Hallmark holidays" years ago. I think Valentines Day fits in that category, doesn't it? Anyway, I'd just come from a nice activity where we'd made some really nice Valentines cards and I wanted to get a little gift to go with it.
So I ended up at the game store looking through stacks of used XBox games for a particular one we've been wanting-- not just any video game, mind you, but the 4th in a series of puzzle solving games we've played together on our "date nights" when we lived overseas. They didn't have the game I was looking for, but we were there, so I started looking for something else that would do. The kids and I finally settled on a second choice that was reasonably priced and that would be fun for him if not for me.
I paid for the game and waited for the clerk to get it for me. After several minutes he came back and said the game I'd purchased was missing. He refunded my money and made me sign a paper that I'd received a full refund.
I should have walked out then. But I didn't. I felt this imaginary pressure to purchase a game, any game. Not that my husband was expecting a gift or that he needed or even wanted a game. But I was there, I'd been thwarted twice, and I wasn't leaving without a game in hand.
I waffled back and forth for a while before selecting a game that was almost 5 times the amount I'd been planning to spend. I plunked down my card (less painful that way, you know) and walked out of the store.
And turned right around and walked back in.
"I'm so sorry," I said. "But I'm going to need to ask for a refund on this game. I came in looking for one thing and left with another." The clerk didn't know how to give a refund since I'd paid with my card, so I came home fuming, angry at all my imaginary friends who made me feel like I needed to buy something that I neither needed nor wanted. It doesn't matter to me at this point whether we keep the game or not. I just wish I could gather up my dignity and hide in the corner.
1 comment:
It is of course surprising that the clerk didn't know how to issue a refund, but.... I was thinking about your post when I walked into Barnes & Noble the other day to redeem a $20.00 online gift certificate from bn.com that a friend had given me. They checked into it and told me that I would not be able to utilize the online gift certificate within an actual B&N store. I walked around thinking that I ought to buy something since I went to the trouble of coming into the store. I went down a few aisles and then remembered this posting. I walked out quickly secretly thanking you along the way.
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