Gift receipts

I started my Christmas shopping today ... downtown during the day because I'm NOT going anywhere near the malls until 2007. They are freaking insane.

So, I go to Bed, Bath and Beyond on my lunch hour.

New rule for myself: Don't go shopping when I have a time crunch because it will make me all that much more annoyed. Check.

I get to the cashier, she can't get my debit card to work and has to call someone over. Finally, it works, but now the pen they have there won't write for me to sign. I tell the woman the pen doesn't work ... three times before she pays attention to me. She says, "OK, I'll get you another one," and grabs THE SAME PEN that I was just using. I say, "No, that is the one I just tried." She sighs, annoyed, and walks off to find another pen. That one doesn't work either. Turns out that ink pens don't seem to like the stainless steel countertop that is installed. Smart move on that decor choice.

At this point, I have been there about 15 minutes longer than I needed to be ... then she can't find my copy of the receipt. She asks the cashier next to her about it, and that woman says, "Yeah, you gave me a receipt I didn't need, and I couldn't figure out why." They fish it out of the trash. I ask about my gift receipt. She says, "Bed, Bath and Beyond does not DO gift receipts." I say, "Seriously? How is that?" because I could swear I have gotten them before. Then I realized that the last several purchases I have made there have been something off a wedding registry, and I didn't need one, so maybe they don't. But, for real ... what kind of store doesn't give gift receipts now? Ugh.

So after work, I go to Macy's. I take my things to the cash register, and the woman rings them up ... slowly, folds them slowly, finds mismatching boxes ... slowly. I just want to go home.

She hands me my receipt, but again, no gift receipt. I say, "Don't you have a gift receipt?" She replies, "Did you tell me at the beginning of the transaction that you needed one?" I'm thinking ... it's Christmas, I'm obviously not buying men's stuff for myself and you gave me gift boxes! But I just say, "Well, no." She says, "Well, you have to tell me ahead of time that you're going to need that. I can't give you one now without doing the whole thing over again." At this point I do say, "It's Christmas! Obviously these are gifts ... I guess you'll have to do it over. I didn't know I had to specify." Then she mutters under her breath, "Yeah, I guess I am supposed to be asking people if they need a gift receipt when I start." Uh, yeah ... I thought so.

Sheesh! Happy holidays everyone ...