The downside to being frugal

Well, I promised that we would play catch-up.  Let's see how many of these things I can combine in to one post!

First - the virus: 

On the reccommendation of BlogWhichShallRemainNamelessBecauseItIsn'tHerFault, I signed up for WebsiteThatShallRemainUnNamedBecauseTheyCouldSueMyAssIntoBankruptcy and started taking the surveys.  After filling out registrations, surveys and forms, most of which took 5-10 minutes for a measly $.50 payout, I decided that it wasn't worth all the effort (especially since I kept spending 10 minutes trying to qualify for a survey and getting rejected.  I guess that married stay-at-home-moms who have a mortgage and good credit and aren't looking to change their internet service or buy a new dishwasher are pretty much useless in SurveyWorld!). 

But since I am cheap greedy sensible, I decided to stick it out and complete enough surveys/registrations to meet the minimum payout and get somethingfor all the time I wasted.  That was my mistake.  While I can never be sure, the fact that my computer started freezing every time I clicked on one of the offers and then one day just exploded with ads every time I turned on my computer seems a little too much of a coinky-dink to me.  That'll learn me to try to get something for nothing but a fake email address!

Second:  the grocery store fit......

In the middle of all this, I hit a local grocery store....the one where I get to gaze upon KevinTheHunkySeafoodGuy (I believe that is his full legal name).  This used to be my favorite store until I started paying attention to prices and realized how expensive they are.  Now I do most of my grocery shopping at Giantand just hit Genuardi's for their "loss leaders".  And since their business in our neck of the woods seems to be hurting, they sent me a bunch of coupons for free shit.  It was time to go loss-leader-shopping with Brad & the kids in tow.

But you know what really sucks?  When you seem to know more about how their cash register works than the employees do.  When I walked up to that register I knew, within about $1, what my total was going to be ($74 for $17, thankyouverymuch).  And she was doing it wrong.  After 5 minutes of explaining to her that this was on sale, that coupon made this free, etc, Brad took the kids to the car.  And then the fun began.  She kept saying

"well - I'll add it back in...or maybe I should take it off....or maybe I should just re-ring this.  Or maybe if I stand on one foot while singing the theme to Eight Is Enough it will magically make it all correct" 

At one point, she had my total down to $4 and couldn't understand why I was arguing with her (because I may frugal and cheap, but I don't steal...and in my mind, that would be taking things that I didn't rightfully pay for!)  I kept asking her if she could get a manager and she refused.  Finally after 15 minutes of watching my ice cream melt, I'd had it and screamed

"Could SOMEBODY please find a manager and get her over here because this woman has absolutely no idea how to do her job!"

Oh - did I mention that this lady was probably about 99 years old?  I am nothing if not respectful of my elders!

Manager comes over, I apologize for screaming, ask her if we could just start the whole transaction over.  She agrees and starts to re-ring.  Hey!  What do you know!? The total was $17.04!  This did not please the manager.  As soon as she realized how many bags she was handing over for that amount, her entire demeanor changed.  For the first time in the 17 years I have shopped at that store, I didn't get the "thank you for shopping with us and come back soon" line.  Ah well - screw 'em if they don't like people who actually take them up on their advertised prices!

I guess that's enough catch-up for today.  Stay tuned tomorrow for the continuing saga of JeepBitch and BMWBitch!