D*mn You, Home Depot!

It is without fail, the curse of the discount offer. Let's send Joe Consumer a coupon and then, let's have none or precious little of the very thing (s)he intends to use it for. Oh, and it expires on Sunday.

And, we aren't getting more of said product for almost three weeks. WHAT?!

The mother met me at the bus station tonight and we headed off for Hardware Heaven. Well, actually we had a few detours. We stopped at the deli/boutique that we first visited a few weeks ago but did not dine at. I got a cool new key chain and a mock Chanel bag. Aren't I too cool? (Yeah, right.)

Then, we headed for our new favorite place to eat, the Chinese restaurant Shangri-La. Ah, I do adore that food. There's almost nothing that food can't help wash down.

Good thing. Because when I got to Home Depot, they had only five of the PVC boards I need for the shed. I need three times that. I didn't expect to get all of them tonight, but I did hope to get more than five. The Home Depot that is actually closest to home supposedly has eight. There was no way I could mak?e it there tonight to buy them.

So, couldn't I purchase them where I was and have the other store hold them 'til morning? Seems logical enough, right? That's probably why the answer is no. They would have to call both store's managers to OK it. And, this is the part that killed me, only "if the other store agreed to send the merchandise" to the store I was standing in. WTF?!

You've got a customer standing in front of you, money in hand, and you won't make it easy for them to buy your merchandise. Seriously?

The kid that waited on me was really nice and he tried to be helpful. He assured me that the other store really did have eight more boards, just like his computer said. (Brian in millwork said so.)

Brian, I'm headin' your way tomorrow morning. First thing. Those boards better be there.

Don't make me get medieval on you ...