Look at that stainless steel tub shine

Friday night our babysitting co-op made the decision that we would start trying to put the older girls to bed at each other’s houses and thus allow one another the opportunity to stay out longer on our date nights. With this in mind, Eric and I left our kids with the Youngs and set out to purchase a new washing machine, knowing that when we were done we would still have some time to do something fun. (Of course by fun I mean something more fun than spending one’s tax return on a major appliance)
I knew which washer I wanted before we stepped into HD because I had gone shopping online and picked one out. HD had it for the cheapest price. I could have actually purchased it online but it just seemed to me that when you make a major purchase, you should do it in person and actually see the thing and touch it and know it is real before you buy it. And that is why we went to the store. In retrospect, I think I was wrong about the seeing and touching thing. By the end of this entry you will understand why.
So we walk into HD knowing what we want to purchase. We find the appliance section of the store; we locate the machine we want. We open the lid, admire the stainless steel tub, turn the knobs, push the buttons, comment on how the load sizing goes all the way to KING and then sigh happily as we pat the appliance and look around for a sales rep.
There was only one sales rep in this section of the store and he was already helping someone. So we browse through the paint section for 20 minutes, pick up some rollers Eric needs and return to the appliance section. Still only one rep and he is still helping the same guy. We browse through plumbing for 20 minutes, pick up some new handles for our bathroom sink and return to the appliance section. Only one rep, still with the same customer BUT the customer is standing up at the sales rep’s desk so we decide to hover. Five minutes later the customer leaves and Michael, the sales rep, turns his attention to us. So you have been just waiting for me all this time huh? -Michael says. Why yes we have because you seem to be the only one who can help us – we reply smiling. Michael sighs deeply and informs us he will be with us in a minute because he has to staple some things before he forgets. Fine – we reply. After Michael locates his stapler, tries twice to staple his paperwork, bangs the stapler on the desk and then finally gets the paperwork stapled he leans back in his chair and asks us what we are there for. We say we need a washer. He asks if we know which one we want. Well yes we do. At this point he stands and asks that we show him the washer. Now the washer is less than 5 yards from his desk. We make our way over and on the way Michael suddenly says – OH MY there it is. If you only knew how long I have been looking for this. I thought I had lost it. When he first started talking I thought he was making fun of us and our washing machine but it turned out that he was talking about a very small object that dispensed white out. He soon became consumed by this object. He showed it to us. He told us how he really thought that someone had taken it from him. He had even gone as far as to accuse someone of having taken it. It was the last one in the store and he had bought it and they did not have any more for him to buy. (At this point I should have interrupted him and introduced him to a wonderful thing called Target or even Staples or Kroger all of which carry this same thing) Finally he got back to asking about our washing machine. We pointed to it and then we all started to walk back to his desk. On the way he asked when we needed it and a woman standing by us said – Yesterday! and he replied – how about Wednesday? We said great and I thought perhaps I would be able to avoid the Laundromat. Then we sat down and he started typing away on his computer and then he said – I’m sorry but I really must make a call. I really did accuse someone of taking this little object from me and I really need to call and let him off the hook and with that he proceeded to pick up the phone and dial. I was beginning to see why the other customer had been with Michael for so long. He probably just asked a question about freezers and then found himself stuck waiting for Michael to get around to answering his question. After a few minutes Michael got off the phone, he then got back to us. Of course by this time he had forgotten the washing machine item number and had to go back and find it. He finally found the right one in his computer only to discover they were currently out of stock. I was thinking OH MY WORD WE HAVE WAITED AND HOUR AND HALF FOR OUT OF STOCK!!!! When Michael informed us they would be getting some in on the 28th and we could have it delivered on the 29th. GREAT! – we said. Oh – Michael said – actually you should probably take delivery on the 30th because if for some reason it doesn’t come in on time then you may get bumped back a few days but if we put you a day back already then you may be first in line. WHATEVER! YES please deliver on the 30th. He then went on to tell us that he had given the man he accused of taking his white out an opportunity to redeem himself. He had told him that he would take a walk around the appliance section and “look for it” and if he, the accused, happen to find it and just place it on his desk while he was “looking for it” he would not ask any questions. Eric and I stared blankly back at Michael. He then started to explain the rebate for delivery which I already knew about. He seemed annoyed by my knowledge of this. But he still offered to print the receipt out and circle the proper things and attached that all to a new rebate form. FINE. Ok did we want an extended warranty? Eric said NO. Michael sighed and said that was a pretty hasty no and not a very well thought out no. Eric said it was pre thought out. Michael said ok and started to put some information into the computer. He then printed something out; I don’t know what it was he printed because he tore it up as soon as it came out of the printer. He then printed again. This time things must have been ok because he tried stapling the pages together. Again, he tried twice, hit the stapler on the desk and then was able to staple. This turned out to be the rebate form with attached receipt. He then printed, stapled, stapled, slammed, stapled again and had forms for Eric to sign. He mentioned the warranty again and stressed that we would have to keep our receipt because we did not get the extended warranty and with the extended warranty the receipt is electronically filed. (so the capability to file the receipt electronically exists but is only available if you get the extended warranty?? I refused to bring up this point and just smiled and said – we can hang on to the receipt - that is not a problem) Finally nearly an hour after sitting down to order our washing machine, a machine I could have ordered online within 5 minutes, we finally had ended our transaction and got to say good bye to Michael. Now let’s just hope he actually put the order through!!!
We were so exhausted after all of this that we picked up our kids from the Young’s at the normal time and when we all got home we went to bed. Oh and on our way home from the Young’s we realized we had left the rollers and the faucet handles on Michael’s desk. I am thinking of calling him up and accusing him of stealing them…