Morjes!

Welcome to my blog. I write about fitting in, sticking out, and missing the motherland as a serial foreigner.

A steal of a deal

Miriam and I went to Foothills Mall today. It's probably the strangest mall I've ever been to just for its unusual combination of stores and weird retiree ambiance. We stopped in at the, for lack of a better term, bra outlet store. Ever since I discovered this store, I can't shop for underwear anywhere else. No more navigating messy department or discount store racks! Those things are practically mazes. This store is awesome because it only sells bras and underwear, and it does so in a clear, spaciously laid out fashion.

I normally wouldn't share so much information except that you're going to hear the story of what happened when I decided to make a purchase, and I can't think of enough euphemisms for "bra" to last the telling of it.

I was only going to buy one bra, but then I saw the huge signs all over the store proclaiming a "Buy One, Get One Half Off" sale. So I grabbed another one and headed to the checkout.

The clerk (a female, which is one advantage American bra stores have over their Middle Eastern counterparts) rang up my purchase and the total was more than I expected. Sure enough, she had forgotten to give me half off on the second bra.

I reminded her about the sale and she said, "Oh, but these bras aren't included in the sale." I was so close to just letting it go. But to do so would have gone against every fiber of my spendthrift (cheapskate, some might say) Walker upbringing. So I took another look at the sign and pointed out to the clerk that it didn't say anything about exceptions. All it said was, "Buy One, Get One Half Off" on all bras and panties, all brands.

"I know," she said, "but these ones aren't included."

While still being as nice as possible, I said that if there were exceptions, they should have listed them on their sign, and so could they just give me the sale price anyway?

Yes, she would, just this time, even though I was wrong and she was right (or something to that effect). But it would require a supervisor's approval at the register.

So the supervisor came hustling over in all her authorizational importance and I briefly explained the situation. She punched in a few numbers at the register and the revised total came up - except this time, I was getting half off my total purchase.

For the sake of honesty, I pointed this mistake out to the clerk and the supervisor. But the supervisor waved away my concern and said, "no, it works out to be the same. Buy one, get one half off, or 50% off. It's the same." I tried to explain one more time, but she just gave me the same explanation.

Now, when stupid people offer me money, and I've done my best to help them help themselves, who am I to say no? So I got two bras for the price of one, instead of buy one, get one half off. And the former is definitely better than the latter, no matter what that employee said.

Out of the mouths of babes

A view, yes, but of what?