Six Dining Rooms and a Raincheck

Apparently my entire life I have had the wrong idea of what a rain-check was. I thought a rain-check meant that you could go back and get an item for a sale price after the sale since they were not available. K-Mart, however, has a very different idea. For K-Mart, apparently a rain-check means calling me repeatedly to tell me the item is now available and then trying to give me the wrong item.

My experience: A few weeks ago, the doll furniture for the doll house my mom is getting Jo was buy one, get one free at K-Mart. When I went to buy the pieces during the sale, they only had the dining room set on the shelf. I explained to the man at the service desk that I would like a rain-check since only one set was available and Jo didn't really need two dining room sets. He gave me a handwritten rain-check on receipt paper (not even a form). A few days later, a woman called to confirm my rain-check though, so I wasn't too worried. Fast forward to yesterday, when a woman called me and left a message that my rain-check was in and was being held for me. I thought this was a bit odd since they couldn't possibly know the pieces I wanted, but I went to K-Mart to see what they had. When I got there, I gave them the hand-written rain-check and was told they would call back to see where it was. After a few minutes, I was told they couldn't find it. After repeating this procedure a couple of times, a new manager came on duty and said he would go back and look himself. A few minutes later, a woman came up and presented me with a box of Lincoln Logs. Now I have nothing against Lincoln Logs, but I don't think they would have done Jo much good in her doll house. I explained that I didn't have a rain-check for the Lincoln Logs, to which she responded "But it has your phone number on it." (It did, but I don't know why.) Just in case, I called Ryan and asked if he had ordered them. Since he didn't, I again explained that I didn't have a rain-check for them, I had a rain-check for the doll furniture. They said there must have been a mistake and said they would call when the doll furniture came in.

I assume this was the end of the story, except for the little kid who won't get Lincoln Logs because some one put down the wrong phone number, until today. Today I had another message about the rain-check, so I thought I'd call and see what they had before I made the trip to K-Mart. Once again, she wanted to give me the Lincoln Logs, so, once again, I explained that I didn't want Lincoln Logs, I wanted doll furniture. She confirmed that I did have a rain-check for the furniture and said she would delete the rain-check for the Lincoln Logs. End of story, right? No. About ten minutes later, she called again to tell me that they had some furniture on the shelf. I asked what it was, and she said it was just the dining room furniture. I said I would rather wait until they had more sets in, so I could use the buy one, get one free on the rain-check. After much silence, but apparently not much thought, she asked if I would like her to hold six of the dining room sets for me so I could pick them up later. After a stunned silence by me, she asked again "Well? Would you?" I responded that my daughter's dolls didn't eat enough for six dining room tables, especially since they wouldn't have a kitchen to cook them in. Her response? "I was just trying to help."

So, here I am with a rain-check that may never get used and a paranoia of going to K-Mart for fear of Lincoln Log wielding associates. I hope the rest of you have better luck with your Christmas shopping!