I feel a mild need to vent

Saturday: Natick *cough* Collection *cough*.  (sorry I still can't call it that)

Sears: Armed with all my Consumer Reports research we duck in the door and try to surreptitiously look at the washers whilst avoiding the shark infested sea of sales associates poised for attack and find a washer and dryer we are interested in purchasing.

We talk numbers, dimensions, Energy Star, Top load vs front load, you know the usual.

We agree to open a Sears card, even though we could easily pay cash, but we want to get the extra 20% off on the appliances.  I mean come on people...no tax AND 20% off, wouldn't you?  I'll just pay it off when it comes and close the card.

They approve me for a $$ amount a wee bit above what these mothers of cleaning glory in Ferrari racing red, with their matching holy glory pedestals, pedestals that will allow my aging bones to actually retrieve the LAST SOCK in the back without kneeling prostrate on the basement floor, will cost.

Sure, we buy the 5 year service contract.  One replaced motherboard later could make it all worth while.
Our sales lady says she'll ring everything in Sunday and call me.

Monday I get a call that she tried to ring it in but credit was up and down all night and that when she was finally able to ring it in, the charge was declined as over the limit so I needed to call credit.

I call, I explain that I only purchased the sexy washer and dryer in Ferrari red and not another item that they see pending for $1399 so could they please take that little mess off my record and let the nice lady ring in my $3500 worth of laundry love?

Well ma'am thank you for your patience, are you sure you didn't go to another department and purchase something else?  No, I am quite sure I don't have a new plasma TV in my living room thanks. Well ma'am  that transaction is pending and needs to 'drop off' the system first before she can ring in the sale.  It will take a few days before it clears, tell the saleslady to keep trying.

HUH?  OKAY.

Call saleslady,explain.  She speaks to her manager who agrees,reluctantly, that this is indeed how the credit department works and that we will have to keep trying to ring in the sale.

Tuesday- call saleslady, nope.  Sale wouldn't go through but I will try again Wednesday.

I bet you can guess what happened today.  I am pretty tolerant of 'system issues'.  I've worked in a bank for a decade in the back end and I know that things take time to reverse and correct themselves. 
But seriously people.  I am all done.  Sales lady's solution was to come to the mall collection and open yet another Sears charge, cause they have 3 different ones and we'll just put it on the new card.

Um NO. 

I polished up my bitch-o-meter and spent a lengthy amount of time on the phone with credit explaining my story, being passed to another person, explaining the story yet again, yelling I AM TRYING TO GIVE YOU PEOPLE MY MONEY AND YOU WON'T TAKE IT until a supervisor got on the line and I explained yet again about the 24 photos with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one, my painful purchase and gave the supervisor the sales lady's cell phone number and said WORK IT OUT.  I am tired of calling you and calling her and getting nowhere.  I AM THE CUSTOMER, YOU ARE THE EMPLOYEE MAKE IT WORK.

Sales lady heads to the store tonight to speak directly with credit to get a magic authorization number and all I can say is a call better come in that my new LAUNDRY LOVE BOXES are coming Saturday or I am going to really explode.

On another note...I was in Newton off Walnut street yesterday parking int he lot near Star to head over to Jin Mi Co for Kimchee and Mirin when I witnessed a lady pull up, get out of her car. 

She walked over to a meter with a broken sign that someone had obviously hand made and used a rubber band to affix the sign to the meter.  She took the sign off, walked over to her meter and using the same rubber band she wrapped the sign around her meter and headed off to Starb*cks.  Does it get any cheaper than that?