Saturday, September 8, 2007

Yay for new fabric! Boo for awkward situations!

I went to Joann's yesterday to stock up on some more fabric. (Yeah, like I don't have enough already *giggle*). Thomas dropped me off with Isaiah, while he and Abbie went to Best Buy. While I didn't have much cash on me, I knew I had at least $50 in my bank account. No worries. Had a blast picking out fabric for a few custom orders, and getting some ideas for a rag quilt I want to make. When I got up to the counter, the total rang up to $30. I handed over my debit card and was looking over the sales flyer on the counter. The lady then said in a not-so-friendly voice "I'm sorry, this was declined". Umm, what? I'm racking my brain, trying to figure out how that is possible. I just checked the balance a couple days ago. The only thing I have coming out on auto-draft is my student loan which isn't due for another 2 weeks. Still confused, I start fishing around in my wallet. Managed to come up with $10 in ones and quarters, and asked her to try the remaining amount again. Nope, still declined. Then she started in with the comments: "You know, it's not like we can just put this fabric back, you already had it cut. Next time, you need to make sure you have enough money before you get things cut." At this point, I want to crawl into a hole and die. I told her that my husband would be here in a few minutes and I'll get some money from him. She just kinda rolled her eyes. And then another customer came along behind me. The cashier made a big to-do in an overly-loud voice "I'm going to have to void this since you can't pay. I'll just have to cancel it and put your stuff over here. Sorry." I walked outside to wait for Thomas (I had forgotten my cell phone, of all days!), but not before I saw the cashier and the hoity-toity lady behind me exchange glances, with a dirty side-look at me. After an eternity, Thomas finally showed up, and I mooched $20 off of him. If you've never shopped for fabric, they ring up the price as they are cutting it, and give you a ticket to take to the cashier. So, all the cashier has to do is scan in the ticket, and the total comes up. Well, the cashier tried to re-do this, but it wouldn't let her do it twice. So, to further make things more "fun", the cashier had to enter the SKU, price and yardage (about 25 digits total) for EACH piece of fabric I had.... and I had 10. Boy, was she banging on the keyboard hard by the time she got done. I apologized a million times and slunk out the door, wiping away tears, as I felt so humilated. In the car, I used Thomas' cell phone to call the bank to see what was going on. Asked for my available balance in my account... $55.67. *blink blink* I told her what happened, and she asked if it said insufficient funds. I told her no, I remembered the cash register just saying "card denied, press yellow key". The bank woman said that the problem must have been either Joann's system being down, or the cashier not running the card through correctly. So, it wasn't my fault at all! I put up with that lady's belittling attitude, her snide remarks, the stares from other customers. I apologized to her... when it was HER fault!! *sigh* At least I have a lovely pile of new fabric to sink my energy into.

5 comments:

' said...

Thanks for visiting my blog... and Joanne's isn't exactly known for their customer service. Even if it was your fault, there is no reason, as a customer, you should be treated in that manner. Would you ever treat one of your customers like that?

I hope she finds herself in a similar situation.

Yeah for new fabric! I just got a bunch of remnants from Joanne's today. Remnants inspire me :)

Angela said...

EWWWW!!!! That makes me so mad! I know just how you feel. Oh I ma so sorry you had to go through that. We dont; have Joann's here but I love ordering from them onine and of course when I visit the mainland. You got a crummy lady that day. I bought a ton of fabric in Ut and then 6 days later went to one in WA and saw that most of what I bought was on sale. I had my receipt so the lady refunded me $80! I am definitely not Anti-JOann's after that. What a stinky lady!!

I'm glad you got your cool fabric though!

Meredith said...

Uf-- yeah... cards get denied for weird reasons... that was both mean & presumptuous of her to be such a jerk about it and everything. No excuse for that kind of behavior.
Anyway, I'm glad to see you, Thomas, and the kiddos had fun at the beach!

Jen (Mama's Magic Studio) said...

aww, honey! i HATE it when things like that happen. hugs!!!

Anonymous said...

You said "So, it wasn't my fault at all! I put up with that lady's belittling attitude, her snide remarks, the stares from other customers. I apologized to her... when it was HER fault!! " You're a better shopper than I am because I would have went back and complained to the manager...My hat is off to you.. :)