Yesterday was a true reminder that I should be careful at all times how I treat people. You never know if that person will take whatever it is to heart and decide to do something about it. You know I always write my stories to encourage you, so here it goes:

My daughter buys her dad two pair of jeans for Christmas; good thought, but too small. She leaves for Lake Charles and we are left to take the jeans back. The jeans still had the store's original tags on them; we were sure that we could take them back, exchange them, and leave the store happy.

Needless to say, we ran into the manager from H***. First she stood there while I spoke to the clerk who was young and couldn't tell me about a prompted up manager's policy, while she fumbled with the cash register. Now in my opinion, a good manager would have said, "Ms. if you would give me a moment, I'll be with you."  So when I asked the child, can I speak with the manager, "Here she is." I was out-done to the tenth power. One, that she'd heard me talking to the child, stood there, and expected the child to handle it. Then she came around the counter and told me, it's been our policy not to take anything back without a receipt at all that's why we made sure you received one. I explained that my daughter purchased them as a Christmas gift and now she's gone. "Well Maim, it's our policy and we've had it for a while." So I just simply said, "I will blog about this because my friends all over the world need to know in case this happens to them."

Needless to say, I called the corporate offices and spoke with a young woman who stated, "That was not there policy". She also went as far to say that it was at the discretion of the manager. I was too out-done. Not only had she lied to my face, she had the authority to do the right thing and chose not too. So I go back to the store and ask for the name corporate gave me (thinking it would be a higher manager, or store manager), and to my surprise it was her who had the nerve to say, "Yeah, I heard the spill (which to me was incorporated as "the squeal". At that point, had I been who I use to be, we would have gone to the tenth power, but thank God for Jesus and His power to change His people! I said, "Ms. I work hard for my money and just like anyone else, I don't want to waste it. I wasn't trying to cause you a problem, I just want what my money has bought." She says, "You people don't realize that it's a problem for us, to have to take this stuff back and turned and walked away." Boy, If my child would have been in the car, who by the way is 18, I would have asked for my money back and left. Nevertheless, I'm trying to teach her that some people will be difficult for no reason and it's up to you to do what is right. And I'm still wondering what was meant by you people. It couldn't have been Black People, because she was black. It could have meant rich people, because we were dressed to the nine and I had on clothing from that store from my necklace, down to my boots! So, I'll take that, but what I want be labeled as is ignorant, mean, arrogant, and a liar.

What was right for me to do, was honor the gift that my daughter, with love, bought for her dad and make sure he walked out of that store with what we went in there for. We did just that and ended up paying more because we purchased a higher priced pair. Now, she truly made what was easy so hard and I could not let it go. All I could think was, what if this woman does this to my mother, or some other older person who has no way of finding corporate? What if she treated my child the way she treated me? With all the "what if" I had floating in my mind, I wrote a nice little letter back to corporate. 

Just as she stands on her feet all week long, making her money. I sit at my desk from twelve to fifteen hours a day, trying to make mine. Hers is no better or less than mine, and both of us I'm sure have obligations that our money take care of. Nevertheless, her compassion about mine, was not nearly what mine would have been towards hers. Now, I would have told my customer that without the receipt, I won't be able to give them money, but they could exchange their product for equal or greater value with them paying the difference. Sounds to me like I could have her job! :) The moral of the story today: Always Do What's Right? Everyone is not dumb and everyone will not except what you say at face value, but when you are RIGHT, Right won't Wrong anyone! She would have had a corporate office that would have backed her. 

Now because corporate was so swift in their assignment, I'm not going to disclose the name of the store but I will say, it's probably best if you live in the Shreveport area to visit the store on (hey, if I told you that, you'd know and that still wouldn't be right). Let me see how corporate will handle this situation with her and I'll be happy to clue you in. Happy Shopping and make sure that your money goes to a company that appreciates your business. Be Blessed!