this is your lucky day

Last week I was shopping for Diego's birthday present. I had wandered around one store for a while debating over some options. I wasn't really in a rush, so when a woman carrying several bags pushed past me because she "needed to get to the check-out counter. I let her by although I was headed to pay also.

Standing behind her in line, I listened as she argued with first the Assistant Manager and then the Manager over some items she wanted to return. Evidently she had no gift receipt, and the store policy is very firm on no returns without gift receipts and no returns after 30 days of purchase. After several minutes of arguing, she gave up and started to walk out the store. She hadn't gone 5 steps when she stopped, turned around, and announced that "she was just going to take them to the Goodwill anyway so she may as well leave the items at the store and make the store managers deal with the unwanted items." Take that evil store managers!

So the lady walks off, and I step up to pay for my selections. As Assistant Manager was ringing me up, he and the Manager were talking about what had just happened. The woman had tried to return a pillow, a pair of slippers, and a third item that I didn't see. Evidently the pillow cost $100 originally and hadn't been in stock in the store for at least 2 months.

As the Assistant Manager finished ringing me up, the Manager looked at me, set the pillow on the counter, and asked, "Do you want it?"

To which I replied: "For free?"

The answer was yes, so I walked out of the store with a free $100 pillow. I guess it was my lucky day.

For those of you who like additionally details: It's one of those specially designed neck pillows by Tempur-Pedic that's contoured to keep your neck and spine aligned, prevent snoring and sinus-related problems, etc. It's a regular miracle-working pillow if you believe the box, but seriously, it is a ridiculously comfortable pillow.