Tatiana at Sears

Yesterday, you learned the "Genesis of Tatiana", my alter ego.
Fast forward to present day, last Thursday in fact, at Sears. The stupid lawn mower crapped out, so we had to get a new one to get rid of the strange patch that wasn't mowed.

7:00pm
E picked me up after work and we went right on down to Sears (5 min. from our house). The sales guy was nice, helped us, and we got the nicest one we were thinking of (of course, why would you ask a salesperson which one is better, the cheaper one or more expensive one). After he starting ringing us up, he says "oh this is out of stock, but there's one in Glen Burnie."
I tried to look up the store on my phone, but of course Verizon doesn't have service in the tool department of Sears in Bowie.
I asked how far that was since I was still in my work clothes and tired and we didn't want to wait a week for it to ship to us (also see crazy patch plus completely unmowed front yard).
He says"only 10 miles up the road."
I look at E and we're like, OK, let's just get this done. (I had a ton of stuff planned for my Friday off and this weekend). The salesperson called the store to make sure they had one there and finished ringing us up.

8:00pm
Leave Sears. E drives me through Chick-fil-A for a small mocha cookies and cream milkshake, my dinner.

8:30pm
Arrive at Glen Burnie Sears, it is definitely NOT 10 miles up the road.
The clerk tells us "oh yea, I've been looking for that. We don't have it, there's only a refurbished one in the back."
Apparently, the guy that answered the phone only looked in their computer and didn't actually check in the back.

8:45pm
Talking with the manager. We tell him we don't want a refurbished one, so he says he can give us a free upgrade, which is very nice. We pick one out that is $40 more.

8:50pm
Start to get rung up so they can make the upgrade & give us the mower (we had already paid for the one in the previous store).
I begin to search Petfinder.com, even though our "fun money"  for the month was going to "what a goat could do for free" (Yup, I suggested getting a goat instead of a lawnmower, E didn't agree).

9:00pm
Sears closes and lights start to go out, we're still at the cash wrap. We had redeemed our "Sears rewards points" and so the return wasn't working right. The clerk suggested he return it, put the money back on our card and then we could re-buy. We didn't want to do that because it takes 3 days for the return to go back into your balance, but hey, the money you spend comes right on out!
He then suggested we pay $25 more (the Sears points we redeemed). I said no we didn't really want the points, nor spend more than what we had already had.

9:30pm
Still at the cash wrap and now the transaction is frozen in the computer (I think someone in the back turned the computer system down). Salesclerk calls the manager back up to look at it. The guy then asks "can you come back tomorrow?"
I put my handbag down on the cash wrap. Men take off their shirts, and women put down their purses. In case you didn't know, I am a perfectionist and a detailed planner.  I had already planned out my Friday & do not like my perfect plans to be messed with.

Tatiana, the alter ego, takes over
"We drove 30 minutes to get here and we can't come back here tomorrow!"(I wasn't yelling, but voice is about an octave higher)
Register guy "You can go to the Sears back in Bowie (the first store), and they can finish the transaction there. We'll call them and they would give us the upgrade also and they have that one in stock"
Ethan kinda looks at me, and says, "there's nothing we can do, I wanna get outta here. Let's go."
Now, I freak.
"NO, I am NOT leaving here tonight without a lawn mower! We drove a half hour here, and we've been here (at the register) for over a half hour!"
I rip my list out of my purse and point to it, "we have to get a chair tomorrow, I have 2 doctors appointments, and I'm meeting Lisa, I DON'T have time to mess with this!"
Ethan walks away to look at tools. The guys' eyes at the register get bigger. (If the husband leaves, it's all over.)
My game plan when arguing with men, is talk and don't stop. It usually wears them down.
I continue "Sorry, we've been here over a half hour and I don't have any faith that the clerk in Bowie is going to be able to figure this out (the stupid Sears points). Continue talking about moved into new house, lots to do, run through the options they suggested and why those won't work, etc, etc. I was also on the verge of frustration tears.
I conclude with "why can't you just give us the lawn mower, take our info and email us the receipt tomorrow?"
Guess what- it worked. They probably just wanted me to shut up so they could go home too.

Tatiana- 1 Sears-0 (well, they still sold a lawnmower).
Oh, but we still don't have a receipt, so I guess Tatiana is 0 also.

Do you ever freak out in stores? Do you feel bad about it later?