I very nearly got a bargain on some patio chairs this morning. If not for indifference of a young Target employee, I would have them on the patio now. I actually saw the chairs a few days ago among the bazillion boxes of outdoor furniture that was marked half off. Target is clearing out their summer stuff and getting ready for fall. Since my pal Sneedlet One is here today and the lovely Mrs. Sneed is messing with people's heads at the counseling center, I figured I would pop over to Target and look at the chairs again. There were exactly four remaining, but they still carried the original price tags. I hailed a passing Target employee and asked him if the chairs were included in the 50% off sale. He looked at me with a panicked expression, I sure trying to think up a response that would keep him from having to actually find out the answer to my question. He told me they weren't. So, I moved on, disappointed. There were some rose bushes marked 75% off, so I picked through them finding three good ones. I also bought a $4 Coleus and an ornamental pepper plant on sale. I got two hanging baskets at 50% off, metal with coconuts husk liners. I also picked up a large bag of potting soil. So the trip wasn't a bust. When I got into line there was only one cashier, the garden manger, a middle-aged Asian woman, who is very abrupt, kind of mean actually. As I waited, the same kid who told me the chairs were not on sale came and opened a second register. He told me to move to his register. He scanned the first rose bush and it rang up as $16. I told him that it was on sale and he said he didn't think so. Meanwhile the five people in line behind me let out a collective groan. Fortunately, the manager came over and started yelling at him that the roses were 75% off. When he couldn't fix the register, she pushed him aside and did it herself before returning to the customers in her line. After I paid and turned to leave, I noticed that the woman in line behind me had my four chairs stacked on a flat cart. This looked bad and I could feel resentment starting to build in me. "Nice chairs", I remarked. "Aren't they nice? They're half off." "You sure? This guy told me they weren't", motioning at the unhelpful kid cashier. "Yes, that guy over there scanned them for me", indicating a middle-aged guy stacking boxes nearby. In the words of Jenny Haha, "AaaaaaaaW! To make matters worse, as I was loading my stuff into the car, the meany manager came out to where I was parked and told me that the kid forgot to scan my potting soil. How the hell did she know that? A quick check of my receipt proved her right, so I had to trudge back in and pay for the soil. I'm sure that she thought I was trying to pull a fast one. What a pain. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky Tag: Daily Life Personal Finance Humor