Gr!

So we got our "Sonny Money" again this year. Picked up the Sonny Money Card (SMC) yesterday morning. On the way back to the school after lunch, I bought a roll of packing tape so that I could fix my laminated posters. Last night I tried to buy a CD player online, since I won't have easy access to the one owned by the department. EVIL WAL-MART had one I wanted but wouldn't give it to me because it said that the address I entered (the school's address) did not match the one on the billing statement. WTF?

All right. FINE. So I did some pondering and some more shopping around and I finally decided on what I wanted. Went through the checkout, and... IT WAS DECLINED.

WTF?!

Look, I spent a total of... I think... $2.89 for that roll of packing tape. (I make sure to buy as cheaply as I can without sacrificing quality!) There should've been a hundred frickin' bucks on that card. I had about seventy-seven bucks worth of merchandise in my cart. (Fortunately I hadn't waited in a huge line and didn't have a bunch of people behind me while the cashier and I tried to figure out WHAT was wrong with my SMC.) And I had to leave it all at the store.

Pardon me while I pout. I am SO MAD.

I mean, it's not THAT much stuff... it's just... I put a lot of thinking into choosing exactly what I wanted: a cushiony chair for the reading area ($20), a storage ottoman with a cushiony top ($20 - AND it matched the chair!), a boom box even if it didn't have the neat mp3 player plug-in ($20), a penguin soap dish to sit on my desk and hold paper clips and coins and eraser tips and such (and look cute) ($6), and a set of 12 penguin shower-curtain holders (I plan to remove the penguins from the holders and hot-glue magnets to the back) ($8). I debated over a penguin bathroom rug, but it was small and I want a bigger one for our reading area, plus it was SO cute I didn't know if I could stand to have anyone walk on it! And it was like twelve-fifty, and I didn't want to spend quite that much on a rug. In fact, looking back, I think $6 for a soap dish, even a TERRIFICALLY cute clear blue one with seahorsies and starfishies swimming in it and two dear wee penguins waving at you, is a bit more than I want to spend school money on.

So I called the number on the back of the card, and THEY said that EVIL WAL-MART was still trying to authorize the payment it had declined! AUGH! So I had to call EVIL WAL-MART and tell them all this and let me TELL you they really really want you to get your questions answered by punching buttons on your phone or emailing them on the website. But no. I waited.

Finally, I got to talk to a Real Live Person, and I was as nice as I could be, because even though he was a representative of EWM, maybe he, too, was a victim of Teh Evil. He tells me he is so sorry for the inconvenience, and the account hold will be deleted and the funds will again be available on the SMC.

In two to three business days.

WTF?!

He tells me he is so sorry for the inconvenience.

Oo, am I steamed. Our tax-free holiday ends SUNDAY, which means that I will have to go to our business manager and beg for a copy of our tax exempt card and SWEAR that I will return it right away. AND, I have no guarantee that the items that I begged to have my name put on them will even BE there by the time the money is returned to my card.

And I feel awful, because I know that there are teachers who don't have books or nice whiteboards or computers or internet connections at school or central heat and air (that works) or access to a die cutter and a laminator or enough student desks for everyone... there is so much that I do have. I know that. But...

I want it.

*Pout*

Image thanks to http://yulimaria.blogs.friendster.com/