Thank God that's over!

Today was a stressful day.

And it shouldn't have been.

I thought it was going to be a good day! Jeremy's out of town right now, but he'll be back tomorrow. My brother Stephin has been hanging out with us instead. It's definitely nice to have some company around, even if he does play video games most of the time (to be fair, though, he's been a big help with Jeremiah.) We got up today, and decided to hit up IHOP for breakfast (mmm.... stuffed french toast....) And since we were right there, I thought we'd stop at Babies R Us to see if they had anything good for me to use my Buy Buy Baby 20% off coupon. IHOP... Shopping... good morning, at least!

Well, stupid BRU really set me off! So I found something I wanted to get--a new pack n play. Okay, so we now officially have three pack n plays, and a co-sleeper that we borrowed from a friend. So we really didn't need another one, but there are many +'s to having it. The big one being, we don't know if we're going to have to give the co-sleeper back. The friend we borrowed it from for Jeremiah is also expecting, though they're a few months behind us. More than likely, though, they'll probably need it. Of the two pack n plays we have (not including the new one), one is more of a play pen (seemed like a good idea at the time, but Jeremiah doesn't like being in it....) and the other is at Grandma's for overnights over there. So really, I wanted to get something for our room for those early months.

And that's what we found! It's a Graco PnP in the Devon pattern (it's green), very nice and neutral, and seems very cozy (at least, from what I could tell in the store.) The changing pad is actually a pad with cushioning (unlike the one that came with the PnP at Grandma's, but how could I complain about it--it was free, after all,) and (this is what sold me) it's at waist level when you're changing baby. With Jeremiah, we just used our bed, which worked, but we both had to hunch over wayyyy too much, and when you're already tired and cranky, you need all the help you can get to survive. Other neat features include hood/canopy that will help block light and wind from the fan (Jeremy can't sleep without it on,) and also discovered is some kind of box with all sorts of sound and vibration options (or something... Not really sure what it does, but there were several different selections.)

Anyways, it was originally $160 (crazy!) and was on clearance for $90 (floor model, and I must say, it was in the best shape out of all the others there.) PLUS, Buy Buy Baby had just sent out their latest 20% off coupon (they come out quarterly, and you can only get them if you have a registry with them), so I did the math and figured out that $72 for this thing was a really good deal! So I bought it.

Or so I thought... We got up to the register, put the rest of the stuff we were getting up on the counter, cashier scanned everything in, asked if we had any coupons, and I handed it over (because BRU and BBB both accept competitor's coupons, and I use both at each.) Well, the cashier didn't seem to like this one... "Apparently" they no longer take % off coupons, just $$ off. So if you have a $5 off $25 or something, they'll take that, but nothing with a %. Why? I don't know... No one could explain it. That was just their new "rule". (My guess? People use 'em off big purchase items, as I do, and they didn't want to lose anymore money, since the highest % off they do is 15%.) Well, this was news to me, as I've used that coupon at BRU plenty of times in the past (and know many others who have as well.)

I thought it would all be okay when the supervisor who had helped me with the Pack N Play came over and told the cashier to just enter it as $20 off (since I was spending $100.) In my mind, I was thinking, "Cha-ching! Thank you Mr. Supervisor!" but the cashier wasn't budging. She wanted to ask the Manager on duty. So she did, and this woman shot me down. "We don't take the % off coupons anymore, just $$ off. And you can't use it on this item anyways, see? It says it on the coupon itself. And they wouldn't let you use it on a clearance item in their store either." Uhhh... actually, that's not true. I just used the same coupon on a much larger clearance item at their store last month... And it was a much larger discount than I was asking for here, so no, they WILL take it off clearance. NO WHERE on the coupon does it says, "not valid on clearance" or "original/regular priced items only." It just says, "ANY ITEM" with an exclusion list that includes certain brands, but NO WHERE clearance. "Well, this one time you can use it on another item, but not this one." Yeah, that makes sense.

Well, then I didn't want it. After all that, the stupid cashier wanted to keep the coupon! I had to pull it out of her hands. I was sooooo mad---SOOOOOO MAD! I was fuming! Like, seriously, I'm sure there was smoke coming out of my ears. And I could tell the guy that was helping me before was pissed. But what could he do. He tried to help me.

Needless to say, it ruined my day. I was soooooo mad all afternoon. And come to find out, no other BRU stores have this policy... I know, because I called them. And then used that very same coupon in the Sterling location later in the day--with NO HASSLES WHATSOEVER!

How am I now??? JUST PEACHY! Because I was able to use the coupon at the other BRU store, I was able to get the PnP at the Chantilly store for the price I wanted. I won't explain how, but I'll just say that I'm glad it "worked" because I was soooo stressed out all day about this. I was just so angry that they wouldn't let me use the stupid coupon, and then fed me this B.S. about it being a new company policy. Whatever. If that's how they want to play it, I'll just shop at the Sterling store from now on, or drive all the way to BBB, as they have NEVER given me a hard time about accepting BRU coupons (even for things their coupons would normally exclude, like our Phil & Ted stroller we bought last year--their coupon excludes it, but the BRU coupon does not. Did they say, "Aw, hell no you can't use that coupon on that item." NO! They took it, and said, "Thank you!" Wow. Imagine that for customer service.)

I will say this, though--The crew that was on tonight at BRU here in Chantilly was very helpful and very nice. I have a feeling they would have been more accomodating had I tried using the coupon then vs. the crew that was on this morning (minus the supervisor guy who helped me... he was really helpful and nice. And the cashier was just lookin' after her own butt, so I can't really blame her. But that manager... man, she just doesn't care if she loses a customer, huh? I mean, why bother clearancing something out at all, then, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SELL IT and DON'T WANT TO SELL IT AT A LOSS?! Why should I care if that would then be selling it below cost??? Not my problem. If you're that worried about your bottom line then you should be trying even harder to keep your customers happy! I wasn't asking for a lot--just a reason to come back and continue to shop at your store. Guess she didn't want that.)

ANYWHOO.... As I said in my title, I'm so glad that's all over. I was sooo stressed all day today (ya just shouldn't upset a pregnant woman... our hormones shift into overdrive and we can't handle it!) and there was no calming me down until it was resolved. So thankfully, it's resolved now and I can relax. YAY!

Just had to share.