A World Of Stupidity

I know I am not the only one who has found themselves in daily situations of stupidity. More and more I wonder how people actually get by. Yes I am saying that I encounter stupid people. Oh now, don't get your panties in a bunch because I am saying that I truly believe that there are in fact stupid people. There are. Be it the sales clerk who offers help and when you ask if they carry a specific item they sincerely shrug and say "I don't know, sorry." And walk away. Or the car in the left hand turn lane beside you whom you watch confidently turn into the on coming traffic lanes and travel on their merry way until they actually notice on coming traffic heading towards them. But often it's uneventful things that make you give your head a little shake while smiling and thinking..."Moron." Not that I would ever do that. It's true that even I have been known to very rarely do stupid things. Again very rarely. But last Sunday, I once again found myself shaking my head in disbelief.

My MIL and I went to find some dining room chair covers as Bubba has taken to climbing onto the table and his claws are tearing up my beautiful cloth chairs...grrr! Someday we will have a pet free dining room but for now, chair covers it is, as discipline does not deter him.

So off we went to BB& Beyond. I purchased 6 yellow covers only to discover I did not like them and would prefer green. They didn't have green at the location we had been to so I placed a phone call and discovered they had the green at another store. So we set off to exchange them.

I decided to purchase 7 as my hoarder husband has taught me it's good to be prepared, and have backup. So at the customer service desk I handed her the 6 yellow covers, the receipt and 7 green covers. I then told her I would like to exchange the yellow for the green. After careful counting she said...

"There is only 5 on this receipt. What would you like to do?"

"What? I only paid for 5?" I glanced at the receipt. " So I have a stolen chair cover in my possession?" I laughed and continued "I thought I purchased 6 but she must have rang it up wrong. I should probably get a free one now for being honest and returning the extra one...haha."

The girl gave a confused smile, paused, recounted again, paused, reread the receipt, scrolled through some sort of chart beside the till and finally asked "So you want to exchange these for the green?"

"Yes." I repeated and slowly added "I want to exchange the yellow for the green, plus I will be buying one more green."

Again she looked over everything, paused and finally stated "I can only return 5, is that ok?"

"Yes, that's ok. I don't want any yellow ones and I will simply pay the difference for the two extra green." Assuming that she meant she can only return my money for the 5 I paid for.

So we finished the transaction and she placed the seven green covers in my bag, and then get this...she grabbed the 6th yellow and put it in my bag also.

"But I didn't pay for that one."

She looked blankly at me and repeated how she can only return the 5 that I paid for. Seriously! My mil and I looked at each other in disbelief, grabbed the bag and left. I told her up front that they had to have wrung me up wrong, that I did not pay for the sixth cover and now she was giving it to me. Good grief! I told her multiple times that I only wanted the green chair covers, no yellow ones! I even joked about not knowing that I had an apparant stolen one in my possession. So now I have to make a trek back to the original store to hand over a single yellow chair cover. I guess I could have insisted on leaving it there but under the circumstances, I am not very quick on my feet when facing such a lack of common sense. I have the same reaction when someone is rude or mean to me. My mind goes blank, like being hit with a stun gun. I always think of come backs after the fact.

Regardless, in today's world I'm sure she's top candidate for employee of the month.