Honey or Vinegar

I honestly wasn’t going for that 20% discount. I swear I wasn’t.

I live in a rather resort-y area so the first long weekend of the pseudo-Summer (because Summer doesn’t start until late June which makes Memorial Day weekend “pseudo Summer”) is a BIG DEAL where I live. Roads are congested, bars are packed, and forget about eating in a restaurant.

Hubby and I were doing the usual early-Summer stuff of deciding what we needed, what was broken, etc. I decided to take a trip to K-mart which is pretty close-by. Sure, they must have a hammock or two and some fans and one of those glass sun tea jugs, right?

Why? Why did I think that K-mart was the answer to my needs? No hammocks, the selection of fans left much to be desired and the sun tea jugs were some hideous plastic that I couldn’t imagine drinking something from. Bad move.

I bought a few fans and some sunscreen, spent way too long in line and headed to Bed, Bath and Beyond which should’ve been my first choice anyway.

I can actually get to the Bed, Bath by me without getting onto a highway which should’ve been my first clue to why this would’ve been a better choice but I was thinking “discount store” not “pretty comforter store”.

Bed, Bath was a like a consumer’s dream date on a holiday weekend. They had a ton of staff on and each and every one of those staff members was polite, helpful and attentive without being obnoxious. It was amazing.

I buzzed through the store, I found the hammocks. They had a wide selection, hmmm. After some thought I chose the striped fabric one. I looked at their fans and immediately had buyer’s remorse about the crappy ones I just bought at K-mart but decided to soldier on. I couldn’t find any sun tea jugs so I asked an employee who, I admit, looked like he wasn’t gonna be all that helpful but to my surprise he led me directly to my desired item. AMEN!

I got to the front of the store and someone asked if I was ready to checkout and led me to a register where she cheerfully checked me out and wished me well. Truth be told the whole front-end was littered with helpful employees moving people quickly through the checkout process.

I normally go to Bed, Bath when I have one of their many, many, many 20% off coupons. They seem to send them out weekly and will honor them FOREVER (go ahead and try it, they never care if it’s expired). I had no coupons which broke my cheap little heart.

I got home and tried to put up the new hammock only to discover that the fabric seemed a bit flimsy and it was too short for our hammock frame. After a quickie beachfront bike ride I made a return trip to Bed, Bath. It was creeping up on 7PM by then and the area seemed to have slowed down to a peaceful simmer. Everyone that was on their way had arrived at their destination. The roads were passable, the stores were empty, it was delightful.

I went to the courtesy desk in Bed, Bath with my recently purchased hammock and explained that I needed to return it and why. The young man behind the counter (though quite dorky, a toast to dorks everywhere) was very pleasant and helpful. I promised him I’d be right back with my alternate hammock purchase.

On my way back a female employee asked if I needed help or was ready to checkout, I thanked her but explained I was exchanging an item. She joined the young man behind he courtesy desk and started to do some retail-ish tasks.

I asked if either of them was the store manager, the female employee said that she was the front-end manager in charge and asked if there was anything she could do for me. She did NOT ask if there was a problem which was really nice of her to not assume that everything equals a problem. I told her that all I wanted to do was let a manager know what an absolutely pleasant experience I’d had shopping in that store TWICE today. I told her that my K-mart experience was less than desirable but that my experience in that particular Bed, Bath store had been truly lovely.

During this little discourse the young man was doing my exchange, he asked if I had any coupons and I told him that, sadly, no, I had no coupons today. The manager leaned over and swiped something and punched in something and PRESTO…I had 20% off my purchase just as though I’d trotted in with one of those blue and white coupons many of us are so used to.

What was today’s lesson? That just like momma always said, “ya get more with honey than you do with vinegar”.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend and remember the people who serve this wonderful country this weekend as you enjoy your hot dogs and beer!