Zippity Do Da .....

I was awakened about 5 a.m. by ear pain. It felt like pressure but when I got up and began moving about it went away. I have already done two loads of laundry, had breakfast and washed all the pet bowls. I even tended to my virtual farm on Farmville which has been neglected. When I get done blogging I have to go continue with laundry folding.

I have been so busy getting my mother's 80th birthday planned. There is so much confusion when you have five children, each with their own ideas and opinions. I wanted to do something in her home so that all her family, including grandchildren could be with her. It looks like it will be everyone there at this point, including her sister from Maryland. Great photo opportunity. My brother is furnishing many pizzas and I am going to have a large tray of something (ideas running through my mind are a chicken or pasta dish) and a salad. Of course there will be an enormous cake and other things people decide to bring. When you do this in a restaurant they rush you out and noone wants to come back to the house for the cake. Been there, tried that. Also, I am so limited with my sodium in my diet there are few places I can eat at. Most of my family love the Olive Garden. There is nothing there I can eat. I refuse to go and watch others eat or pay for a meal that I can't have. It's not fun giving up salt. I will not be able to have pizza but they all love it. Thinking I might have a crock pot of dirty dogs too.

I had a rather unpleasant experience at Costco this week. I went to buy something at their food court and it was going to cost $2.76. I took out two singles and found I didn't have the change so as I handed the young woman behind the counter my money I said "Oh, this is making me break my twenty." She was ignoring me and looking all over the place. She handed me some bills and over that was a paper plate. I put the plate down to put the money in my wallet when I realized she had given me change for a five. I told her immediately and she said "You gave me a five. " I responded "In my wallet were three bills: a twenty and two singles. Had you been listening you would have heard me say that I would have to break my twenty as I didn't have the coins to make 76 cents." The guy in the back asks her what's wrong and she says rather loudly "She says she gave me a twenty but she didn't. She gave me a five." Now people in the line are staring at me like I've done something wrong. I ask her to call over a manager. She does and as the manager approaches she calls out "What is wrong?" and the story gets loudly repeated. A part of me wanted to walk away but I refused to be ripped off by this person who has no manners or concept of how to treat a customer. I ask the manager to pull the drawer and count the money and give me back my $15. She tells me that it will take well over an hour and it would be easier if I would wait until the following morning after they count the drawer she will call me and then I can come pick it up. I explain that a. I am not the one at fault b. she needs to instruct the woman to stop saying that I gave her a five when I didn't even have one in my wallet and c. that perhaps this was not an accident but deliberate and that I have heard some cashiers do this and later remove the extra money. I prefer not to be inconvenienced to return.

The manager is very nice and clearly running around like a chicken without a head. I don't want to be unreasonable to I tell her to call me in the morning and I will return. On my way out I go to the customer service desk and ask if I might speak to the store manager. I'm not really comfortable leaving without my money and don't get why pulling the drawer would take that long. She calls up the same person I have already spoken with who repeats it all again. I tell her to call me in the morning and I will return. It's not that far.

The following morning I took the dog to the vet and got home and when I still hadn't received the phone call as promised at 11:30 I call the store. I am then told the person who looks at the sales and drawer amounts has not come in to work and was supposed to be there at eleven o'clock so now I am really annoyed. She tells me she can't give me a refund without approval of the store manager. She will call me back. She calls back and says he's not available for her to speak with. She will give me a gift card with the amount on it. I tell her I am going to call their corporate headquarters. I call them and they agree I was not treated well. He will call the store and speak with them. He said they should have pulled the drawer. He says to go there and speak with the store manager. I return and once again am told he is not available. The food manager tells me she will cash the card for me so I can leave with the cash. Folks, I am not happy. I was seriously inconvenienced and I never did receive the call back yesterday afternoon the customer service supervisor promised me. My neighbor who works at Wegman's told me my treatment there would have been much different. They wouldn't tell me if the drawer was over or not and I feel that they are hiding something. I will not be doing the majority of my shopping in Costco. I will do my shopping where I receive good customer service.