smackdown at kmart!

hem hem.

this is a story about how my mom gave the ppl at kmart what-for, because the price at the register did not match the price of their signage.

my friend nannie (carol's eldest daughter) works at the kmart close to my house.  this kmart is currently in liquidation, going out of business.  they have slashed prices & are getting rid of evvvverything.  mom, leyton & i decided to stop by there today to see if they had any zhu zhu sets on sale, if mom could find a better deal than WM.

leyton & i checked out the books first - he found a thomas book & i found Undercover Cook, which is a book i'd read a review of last month & had forgotten about til i saw it again!  : )  we ran into nannie & had hugs & hello's (saw carol & freya out front selling GSC's as well) & that was very nice.  we didn't find any zhu zhu stuff, but mom did find a green machine or some such title - a bike-like contraption she wondered if leyton would like for his birthday.  he was quite excited by it, and nannie took some time to explain to him how the levers worked & such.  : )  

we got thru the checkout okay, but then mom thought she left her keys in the aisle, so she went back for them.  when she came back up to the front, she'd been examining the receipt & noticed they hadn't taken 25% off of the bike.  the signs all over the store, including on the shelf for this bike, say specifically - "25% off lowest ticketed price."  it's on the flyers, it's on the advertising, it's on the HUGE signs all thru the store.  so, the lowest ticketed price on this bike was $82.  now, the ticket itself says lowest price - which is the LOWEST TICKETED PRICE, right?  

logically? 

apparently, it is not.  

apparently, their signs lie, and they are OK with that.  

as a matter of fact, the lady from the jewelry dept (?) who came over, was VERY rude to mom, and just kept saying that the price on the ticket had already been reduced the 25% & that mom could talk to whomever she wanted, but they weren't going to change it for her, because they "couldn't" since there wasn't a way to in the computers.

(sidebar: having been in customer service for many, many years, some of those years at WM, i can tell you that there is ALWAYS a way for a manager to do something for the customer, if they want to do so.)

anyway, the manager comes over, and once again mom does her spiel (w/ me pointing out what his seemingly pea-brain couldn't figure out about the specific wording of the advertising plastered all over the store and on the flyer in his very own hand).  the manager is VERY RUDE and again says, "well, we're not going to do anything about it."  

mom was LIVID, and rightly so.  

and so she returned the bike, right then & there.  i was very proud of her for doing so.  

but poor leyton!  he was already ready to head over to WM to find the zhu zhu stuff, he was hungry (we hadn't been to lunch yet), and now his bike that he'd been so excited about mere seconds before was being wheeled away from him.  :(  but the awesome thing - he didn't throw a tantrum.  i told him that dishonest companies don't get rewarded for lying, and false advertising.  he got pouty, and said, "that's not fair," and i replied (loud enough for the cashiers & manager to hear), "you're right, honey.  it's not fair for them to do that.  it's not fair that they aren't honest in their advertising and pricing.  i'm sorry."

the security guard who was there checking receipts said this has been happening a lot lately.  she also said most ppl don't put up too much of a fight.  which just doesn't make sense to me - even if you don't end up "winning" said fight, it's worth it to make it known when someone is doing something WRONG.  

leyton was getting antsy that the return was taking so long, so he & i started a game of words w/ friends.  heh.  he loves that game!  : )  and i love that he loves it because it's teaching him SPELLING!  yay for learning!  : )  we played til mom had gotten her money back, in the car on the way to WM & then picking up anthony & then going to culver's for lunch.  :D  good times!!  and we did find another set at WM and also a battle suit for one of his zhu zhu's.  yay!  

all in all, a nice hang-out w/ the fam once again.  

and now i'm home - watched labyrinth & now i'm going to catch up on some hulu & read.

gotta get up early tomorrow & remember to go to a different office for a panel discussion.  one of the speakers is the guy who was in charge of the FIRST stuff for our company, so that should be pretty neat!  and worth getting up early... lol  

ttfn!