Price check on aisle 2.

This past weekend, we were on our way back up from the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus. We stopped in some miscellaneous town to pick up a few odds and ends from their Super Wal. While we shopped, I found a display of full-sized Mitre soccer balls (yes, football to the folks elsewhere) marked to $5.00 each. Hubs accidentally over-inflated (exploded) K-'s soccer ball at Christmas when he was trying out the new air compressor that our lovely neighbor bought him. $5.00 was the perfect price for a daddy-oops replacement.

We went to the register and I was emptying the basket. Hubs went back to replace the box of plastic forks that exploded and asked when he came back what the soccer ball rang to. I hadn't paid attention, but told him that I was going to have the cashier check it after she was finished.

As she was ringing, the box of forks rang up to $2.50. They were on a big middle aisle display with a large sign above them saying $1.12. When I mentioned the price difference to the cashier, she huffed at me. (I was very polite.) She did change the price with a little extra attitude tossed in for fun.

At the end, our bill was markedly higher than we expected. Why was that? Because the soccer ball rang up at $18.86.

"I'm sorry Ma'am, but that soccer ball was supposed to be $5.00."

"Well I can't change THAT for you!"

"Oh, I don't expect that you could. That seems like more money than you can fix."

"Do you want me to take it off then?"

"Um, I'd really like it for $5.00."

(Insert look with eyes crossed.)

"Is there anyway you could do a price check?"

"No, I can't!"

"Is there anyone who could?"

So, she did some code thingy that called some miscellaneous person from the back halls somewhere who was just as enthusiastic about a price check as she was. After Hubs gave her specific directions as to where the ball was, it took her about 10 minutes to return.

Guess what? We were right. (I knew we were.) I apologized to the lady in line behind me (she came later in the ringing portion.) I told her, "Ma'am, I'm sorry but a $13.00 difference was just too much." She told me that she didn't blame me.

The cashier? She apologized for the price problem.

It's all good and now we have a new red soccer ball living at our house.

What irritates me, is that under or over ringing is against the law. Weights and Measures comes in on a periodic basis to check for scanning errors. If the price that it rings is not correct, it counts against you. (Over or under.) I worked at a grocery in high school and for the first few years of college. Their ringing was so off that Weights and Measures actually took their scanning rights away. (As a result, I can now run an adding machine probably faster than anyone I know.)

So, how are you with overcharges? Do you check your receipt before you get out to the car? There are plenty of overcharges out there. Believe me, I've stood in my fair share of customer service lines to get my money back.

An aside: How do you pronounce "Mitre?" I always thought it was "mit-er," but now I think that it could be "mit-ree." Help!

Smiles in my day:
- Though sad that our two days of play dates have been canceled due to stomach virus (the friend) and storms coming, it gives me two days of painting that I didn't have before.
- The animal guy is at the library tomorrow.
- Hubs' binoculars were returned from the Alaskan trip just fine. His boss insisted he was going to borrow them and they are nice binoculars that Hubs bought. They aren't 1000.00, but they are still very nice. Hubs was afraid that after seeing his boss' binoculars, his would come back trashed. He did take care of them and that made us very happy. He also brought us back some Musk Ox fur. Gee, well, I would have been good with skipping the fur.
- A/C when it is in the mid-90's.

Have a great day!