Special Delivery

The 'rents and I went shopping Saturday afternoon as part of our Family Bonding Time.  We had a great day together.  We went to breakfast, and drove around southern Indiana along the river.Yes, we wasted precious $$ gas, but hey - I spare no expense when it comes to our Family Bonding.  On our way back home we stopped at a neighborhood furniture store.  I'd been looking for a nice curio cabinet for a few months but could never find the right one. I need a cabinet for my Gone With The Wind music boxes and a few other nice collectibles. I'm picky - I didn't want one made from that cheap pressboard crap, but yet didn't really want to spend a grand on a bigger one either.  We went to the back of the store where the curio cabinets were, and the second I spotted this one, I knew that was THE one.  It was a bigger than the ones that had advertised on sale (twice as wide) and thus more expensive (twice as much) but it was a gorgeous piece of light oak furniture.  It will look awesome in our family room with our hardwood floors.

As the saleslady was writing up the order, she asked if I was going to take it with me, or would we like it delivered. There was no way in blue heaven that we would attempt to haul something like that home with all of the glass involved, so I told her I would like it delivered.  She said that delivery is $49.  I didn't even blink.  I didn't want our Norman Rockwell-esque Family Bonding Time to be marred by us dropping the cabinet.  The saleslady then directed me to the back counter area where a PAT would actually take my money and give me my receipt. 

The PAT took my name and address and my money, and then said that the soonest they could deliver the cabinet would be Friday.  I was a slightly irritated by not being able to get it for almost a week, but I could live with it.  She said they would call Thursday night and give me a 4-hour window on Friday so we could know when to expect them.  She started typing more things into the computer and then asked me for directions to our house.  I said "Excuse me?" and looked at her as if she had three heads.  The PAT looked up from the computer and said "I SAID I need directions to your house for the delivery people."  I told the PAT "Excuse ME. But I'm paying almost fifty bucks to have this delivered just 3 miles from here.  For fifty dollars the company can't look at a map and figure it out on their own?"  A woman standing behind me waiting to pay for her furniture tapped me on the shoulder and whispered "You go, girl."  One of the other sales people was standing at the counter and heard this exchange of banter, and he walked over and looked at the PAT's computer monitor. He told her "They're just going to Greenwood Road - that's the main road here PRP - I think they can find it. Just print her receipt and don't take any more of her time."  The score -- Puddin: 1, PATs: 0.