What a deal!

Everybody loves a bargain, and I’ve been accused on more than one occasion of being “cheap” (or “thrifty” as I like to call it), so I will put a lot of effort into saving even a few dollars, especially at Christmas time.

My favorite story in this arena comes from more than a decade ago. The year was 2008. My then two-year-old daughter was just the right age for a rocking horse. Those things ain’t cheap, so I waited and waited to find the right one (at the right price). Well around the middle of December, I found one on sale at Target.com. Now, this was still pretty early on in the rise of online shopping, but it was a $149 rocking horse on sale for $89. I could not pass this up. So, I ordered Spirit the Electronic Rocker (with plenty of cool “horse” sound effects and such), patted myself on the back and waited on it to arrive.

Well about a week later, I came home from work to find a big ol’ box sitting on my front porch. I dragged it inside and opened it up expecting, of course, to see a rocking horse on the box. But, instead of Spirit the Electronic Rocker it was Tek-Tex the Electronic Dinosaur.

Now don’t get me wrong, it was a cool dinosaur, but it was not what I had ordered and the thing was actually to advanced for a two-year-old little girl. Nowadays, you could probably click a few buttons on your phone and the next day a UPS guy would show up and swap them out for you, but again, this was 2008. So, I called up Target and explained what had happened (by the way, this was on December 22nd by this point). They said I could take

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Tek-Tek to my nearest Target store and exchange him for Spirit.

That meant driving to Southaven… during Christmas rush… in the dark and as fate would have it sleet. Also, anyone remember back then when I-55 between Memphis and Southaven was down to one lane both ways? If you don’t’, well it was in 2008. But alas, I loaded the huge box into the back of my truck and headed that way.

As I drove, I assumed I would just drive until I hit something or something hit me, but I eventually made it to Target, hauled Tek-Tek into the store and over to the service desk.

I explained the situation to the nice lady there and how I was sure Tek-Tek was super awesome, but we had ordered Spirit. She did some clicking and scanning and such and sadly, there was no Spirit the Electronic Rocker at that store. She did offer me a refund, and so I had little choice but to accept.

She then scanned the bar code on Tek-Tek’s box and then counted out $239.50 in cash and handed me the money and a receipt. I looked at the money and then looked at her. I reluctantly

not bought the $239.50 dinosaur. I had bought the $139 horse, actually marked down to $89.

Well, she looked at me, looked back behind me at the long line forming and said, “Well, you have a Merry Christmas.”

I may have broken land speed records getting back to my truck with $239.50 in cash, but hey, Target is still in business so I guess they survived that hit. No rocking horse, but hey…

$239.50 in spending money.

That’s a great story in and of itself, but there’s a kicker… three days after Christmas, we get back from somewhere and what’s on our front porch?

That’s right… Spirit the Electronic Rocker.

I have to assume it was from Santa Claus.