Off Target

Maybe it's just me. Does anyone else feel this frustration every time they shop at Target?


The T stores have really not been around that long. I remember the first time I ever shopped in one. Yes, even back then it was a memorable experience. I couldn't find what I went into the store for, so I went looking for a sales associate. And I couldn't find one of those either. I wandered up to the service desk and there they all were, laughing and hanging out together in the front of the store. Hmmm. I made a mental note to myself then that this was not a place I wanted to spend my time in, because if I went shopping there, I would be spending a lot of time there. (and time to me is precious)

So this summer we had a lot of weddings and bridal showers to go to - in fact, 2 bridal showers and 3 weddings. And guess what! They were all registered at Target. As Charlie Brown says after Lucy pulls the football away...

So off I went to T again. Surely by now, things have changed and shopping will be better. How hard could this be? Unfortunately, time had dulled the pain and I was in for a rude awakening.

You know when you first go into the store, you have to access the bridal registry and get a printout of what the bride has registered for. So I confidently went to the computer and touched the screen to get it to turn on. Nothing happened. I touched it again. Still nothing. I moved to another computer monitor and touched it. Nothing...etc. etc. etc. There were 3 computers there, I touched them all, then started over. Sigh. So I turned to the attendant at the service desk to tell her it wasn't working and she calmly said that they were down. (She couldn't have told me while she was watching me move from screen to screen?) She also informed me that all the T stores had the same problem, so my just driving to another store would be fruitless. I mentioned that I had a bridal shower to go to the next day and she told me: "Oh, just buy something cheap and put it in a pretty bag." What???? She really did say that to me. I smiled and nodded politely and walked out of the store.

Then I got the brilliant idea to check if I could access the bridal registries online. And ta-da! I could. So in another brilliant move, I ordered all wedding and shower gifts online. Now I wouldn't have to go back to that blankety-blank store.

I did get all the gifts and everything was fine...until one of the weddings was canceled and they gave me back the gifts I had already given them. I was happy to be able to take 2 gifts back to get some money back. And I had already forgotten about all the grief I get when I go there.

So...I take my gifts, along with a printout that I had done when I ordered the gifts. I took these to the service desk and explained my situation. They told me they couldn't take them back. What???? I needed the bar code printout, but I could get that from the computer where you get the registries from. So I went to the computer monitor and guess what! It didn't work. I moved to another computer...same thing. I asked for help, and the service desk attendant couldn't get it to work either. He had to call a manager to come over. I was able to get to the items I wanted to return, but the computer wouldn't print. The manager couldn't get it to print either and had to (gasp) manually write down numbers of the products I wanted to return. Then the service desk could take my items, enter their numbers into the cash register and give me my money back. (I hope...it went on my credit card.) Why couldn't they just scan the items and give me my money back? I don't understand and believe me when I say, "I'm NEVER buying another gift from their registries again." No, NEVER. I may have to take up quilting or something to give at weddings and showers. Or maybe just get something I want to give them, instead of what they registered for.

That time I was in the store 50 minutes. And I was only returning 2 gifts.

Well, that is my saga. Sad but true. If I can help someone else avoid the same misery I endured, it will have been worth it.