Ice Bound

Thanks for all the responses to my question about the sheets. I had ordered the sheets from Sears. When I washed them, the seam came apart so I went to Sears on Saturday to return them. I explained what had happened and the reaction I got from the clerk was "We don't give refunds on merchandise that has been used." I said they are not "used"; I washed them and the seam came apart. Her response was basically that washed is the same as used. She seemed to be completely missing the point. It's not like I washed them and changed my mind. I washed them and the seam came apart. To me, that is defective merchandise. I have a tendency not to make statements that I think are obvious. I say "The seam came apart when I washed them" and I expect the person on the other end of the conversation to come to the obvious conclusion "that should not happen with a brand new set of sheets, that is defective merchandise." Possibly I was expecting too much from the poor girl.

She said they would fix them, but even then I found felt like she was being a bit snarky about it. Referring to their seamstress she said "I bet she could fix that in two seconds. I could fix that in two seconds."

I hate returning things, I always feel vaguely apologetic about it, and I'm not very good at standing up for myself. I honestly was not expecting that kind of reaction. I've worked in retail. When someone buys something and it comes apart right away, it's not surprising they'd want to return it. Unfortunately, I also have a pretty slow reaction time. I said if they could fix them that was fine, and I also requested they ask the seamstress to check the other seams.

After I walked away it really started bugging me. I'm not sure if that really is the policy at Sears, or if this person was misunderstanding, but in any case it didn't feel like very good customer service. She did not seem at all concerned about the fact that a brand new set of sheets had a seam come apart in the wash. I don't know. It was just bugging me and I guess I wanted to know that other people would have done the same thing.

Anyway, enough of that.

After work today, we stopped at the superstore ti pick up a couple of things, and on the way out I saw they had planters of crocuses and daffodils. It made me smile, so I thought I would pass it on:



Because right now, my world is looking like this...















It snowed all day Sunday. Then warmed up and turned to rain over night. Then the temperature dropped again by morning. Everything is covered in ice.

Crocuses and daffodils are seeming a long way off.