My family and I have begun the process of cleaning out my mother's room. This is not a small task. My mother literally had tons of clothes. Enough to open up her own boutique. Many of them were brand new and still had tags on them. Included in the booty was the outfit I had purchased for her from NY & Company at the mall for Christmas. It was still in the gift bag.
Since all of us are tight on money currently, we each claimed our still unopened Christmas gifts in order to return them to the store. I've put this task off as long as possible, but today was looking like a good day, relatively speaking, in that I managed to get dressed before evening and was actually feeling motivated to run errands. (It hasn't just been grief getting me down, I've had an awful stubborn cold hanging on for weeks).
I packed up the outfit and headed to the mall. This was not something I had been looking forward to doing, because all I can think of is how happy I was just a month or so ago when I purchased the outfit, looking forward to the holidays, blissfully unaware that I would be returning it under such circumstances. I also had very mixed feelings about this return. I felt guilty about it, like I was profiting from my mother's death. It's the same feeling that has plagued me while calling to claim her death benefits.
I just wanted to get this task over with and be onto the next thing. One foot in front of the other, that's the way I've been operating. But, although the line at NY& Company wasn't long, the transactions at the register was taking forever. Always the case with this particular store, although I can never fathom what the hell takes so long.
The first inkling that I would have trouble was when they realized I didn't have a receipt. I explained why. Fortunately, I had used a gift card to purchase the outfit, and I still had it in my possession. They were able to look up the transaction from it. All seemed to be well, except the associate casually mentioned that I had used TWO gift cards. "That's a problem, since I don't have the second," I told her.
"Oh, it worked," she said, handing me the receipt. Stupid me, I thought that meant she credited the outfit to the card that I still had in my possession. I quickly found out the error of my ways when I went to Staples and tried to purchase ink for my printer with it. There was only a few dollars left on the card. That caused me to dig out the receipt. She had credited both, splitting it the way it was originally. I cursed her stupidity. How the heck was I going to use a refund on a card I didn't have anymore?
I drove back to the store, trying to take deep breaths. I *still* thought, however, it was going to be a quick and easy fix, so I told myself not to get upset. Mistakes happen. She probably wasn't thinking the whole thing through, and since I used to work in retail, I'd done similar things in the past.
I walked into the store and encountered the store manager. Typical retail personality on a power trip. I've unfortunately dealt with many of these types when I used to work in stores. They have very little power but man, do they use whatever they have to make other people feel like shit. Everyone from associates to customers.
Turns out, the associate shouldn't have credited me on the gift cards because that's not their store policy. She didn't know whether or not I would even get the credit. This was told to me in an extremely condescending manner like it was *my fault* this error had been made. She then informed me that since I didn't have the receipt, all I could get was a store credit. This was frustrating in the extreme because I only went and bought all the ink for my printer because I thought it would be covered by the refund. Yes, I needed printer ink, but I could have held off on purchasing it. Also, after dealing with just a few minutes of her attitude, I'd already decided I was never shopping there again.
I told her I don't want a store credit. She started bitching at me that I didn't have the receipt and this was MY fault. I explained to her that I had purchased the outfit for my mother but she passed away and I didn't anticipate having to return the item. She said, "Well, I'm sorry about that, but, you don't have the receipt and that's our policy."
I call bullshit on that lady, because I know for an ABSOLUTE FACT that the entire transaction was retrieved from the gift card. So the receipt exists. With my name on it because you insist on asking for my frigging phone number and email address every single time I come in which is probably why it takes you ten years to check anyone out.
I said, can we put it in my NY and Company card?
No. I didn't have the receipt and this was their store policy.
I was getting upset. Because the situation was escalating. I was trying to keep my voice down because I don't like attracting attention, but she was raising hers and making a spectacle. That's always the case when you're dealing with a power hungry manager. They went everyone to see them make a fool out of you. And I just couldn't deal. I took the receipt and walked out.
She started screaming after me, "MA'AM!!!!!Don't you want your money!!!!" So everyone in the store turned around and watched me leave.
Now I'm sitting here feeling completely overwhelmed, because every single thing I've done with the public since my mother's death has been a hassle, dealing with people who are horrendously, breathtakingly rude. Ruder than they would normally be, because it's like they sense your vulnerability and decide to devour you. It just adds to your sense of loss and brings home the fact that the world in general does not care about your issues. The past year or so has enlightened to me to how heartless people can be to strangers, so I shouldn't be surprised to experience it firsthand. Doesn't make it fun.
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