Friday, July 1, 2011

Was it worth it?




How many of you got an additional $10 last week at Joann's for spending a certain amount?
(I can't remember exactly what the total was. I think it was $50.)

We have a new Joann's in town that is just beautiful. My hubby and I talked to another couple like ourselves - means they were an older couple - about how much we liked this new store.

Well, the honeymoon with Joann's is over. As a matter of fact, I think I'm getting a divorce.

What happened to bring about this drastic change, you ask?
I planned to spend my $10 one day last week.
Before I went in the store, I looked searched frantically through my purse for the card.
Why didn't I look for it before I left home, you ask. Good question.
I must like sitting in a hot car and dumping my purse out on the seat beside me.
Twice.
  Maybe it's on the back seat.
(Don't even ask why that might be.)
Aha! There it was.
With my card in hand, I eagerly entered the store. 


Truthfully, how many of you have read the back of cards like that? Yeah, me neither.
If you have read the back of the card, then you might as well stop reading here.
 
In the past I had gotten several of those $10 cards from Kohls.
They worked like cash. Maybe that's why they were called cash back?

I found the things I wanted and made sure they were on sale.
Then I shopped for my item I could buy with the 40% off coupon.
Never leave home without that valuable coupon, right?

I should have taken a picture of my loot, but look at this picture.


I wanted to make something beachy after reading all the blogs.
I found that lovely color of paint and a stencil because I haven't learned how to use my Cricut yet.
I found some stickers to decorate the tray I planned to stencil on.
Then I picked up the fun flippy things for my great-nieces/nephews for our
family Fourth of July get-together.

Also, visualize a metal picture stand with a gorgeous fleur de lis.

Being the retired math teacher that I am, I figured it all up in my head and went to check out.
There was a line! I can handle that. I taught middle school am patient.
The clerk was having trouble with a check-paying customer.
Register 1 wouldn't process it.
The clerk announced to the line - she wanted to keep us updated, I guess - that register 2 didn't have change.
  She assumed it would take the check. Wrong.
Register 3 worked, and by this time another clerk had come up to help with the line.
When she gestured me over to register 2, I told her it didn't have change. (I try to help out when I can.)
We moved to a register #4.

The total came to $16.71 without the coupon.
Deduct the 40% off that beautiful stand.
Total is  - are you subtracting in your head? - $13.71.
Deduct the $10 free money that got me in the store.
New total should now be $3.71. YAY for me.
The register even says $3.71.

Not so fast. (What tv/movie character says that? I just cannot remember.)

After multiple attempts, the clerk discovers that I can't use both.
What I thought was a $10 gift card is actually a coupon. 
 Now if you've shopped at Joann's a lot, then you know that you can't use two coupons in one transaction.
The clerk is very sympathetic to me, as is the other clerk who came to help her. (Remember the line?)

Maybe I should have treated myself to the stand by paying the extra $3.
But I just got mad. I told the clerk I didn't want the stand and I would start over.


I needed to find items that would total $10 for the Joann's card.
Those items needed to be on sale to meet my requirements.
Additional items include gold glitter stickers that I can use when my
brothers have their 50th wedding anniversaries, a bracelet making kit for my granddaughter,
and a cupcake for her to color for her mother's birthday.
(Ignore the Fourth of July character.)
 New total is now $10.26.
As I reach for my $0.26, a different clerk this time sadly tells me that the tax cannot be part of the $10.
You're wondering what happened to those math skills where I was adding it all up in my head, right?
I knew the tax couldn't be included, but I had originally included a wooden plant box.
It wasn't on sale so it couldn't make the cut. 


I quickly grabbed another $1 wooden something.
Now you can stop ignoring the Fourth of July character.
The total was $11.76 and my final cost was $1.76.

After I got home and looked at my stuff,
I realized how my cheapness hurt me.
I bought some stuff I didn't really need.
I didn't get something I really wanted.


I may never go back.
They may never let me back in the door.





9 comments:

Diann said...

I can sooooooo relate to this! It is so absurd the way the do these things. I used to be a manager for about 6 different JoAnn Fabrics back in the 1990's. Of course that was when they were smaller and, in my opinion, a much nicer store than the big JoAnns. When they started changing over to the bigger stores, they lost a lot of basic customer service qualities. When I saw that happening, I quit. I just couldn't enjoy it any more.

Debby said...

I have moments like that. Our local Joanne's is terrible. The clerks are so rude and won't even speak unless you ask them something. In a closer townthe Joanne's there is better. Better service. I don't shop theree much because I usually buy things I don't really need.

Becky said...

I hear ya! I'm frugal(read CHEAP) in my craft/fabric shopping too. When I feel like they have messed me over I could just throw a hissy fit. I can remember the day that I would indulge my desire.....thankfully for my soul I have gotten over that knee-jerk reaction. BUT, having said that, I do say a lot of dirty words silently.

Angie said...

This is great! I love it. Joanns bothers me. I much prefer michaels with coupons. I don't know the craft store coupon rules, but I've learned them at babies r us. They are sticklers too. I often go in more than once in a day to do multiple purchases with separate coupons.

Jen @ EmbellishingLifeEveryday said...

I feel your pain! I get too excited when I get a good coupon only to realize that I can't use it the way I would like. What really stinks is that you can never use them on Cricut products. oh well.

brokeintrovert said...

This is such a funny post! Thank you so much for making me laugh. I am so sorry about your frustration at the registers. I had a weird experience recently in the paint department at Home Depot that was frustrating....my husband would have walked out on both stores.

Wendy@~Chez~La~De~da~ said...

~Giggle~ I hear ya!!! I hate coupons that work this way, why do they do it? It's pointless to have angry customers! I love the selection...but I HATE to deal with the pointless "games" of coupons! Give me a good price and I will shop with you!!

~~Wendy

Ann from On Sutton Place said...

I know JoAnn has all sorts of limitations on what you can use a coupon for and what you can't. Seems like such a waste of their time...just print a coupon you can use on anything. If we were in charge we could straighten them out! Thanks for visiting my blog. It took me a while to return a visit...I'm a little behind. Hope you have a great 4th!

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Unfortunately, for me JoAnns is the only fabric store in my area. We used to have a couple other competitors but they have closed long ago.

Now I'm stuck going to JoAnns, which ALWAYS seems to be understaffed - long lines at the checkout and fabric cutting areas and as you've stated the wacky coupon rules.

Anyone who is fortunate to have other fabric store competitors, I suggest you frequent the competitors or else you'll be stuck with buying at one store -- JoAnns.

Lucy