A Plug for Harmons

So I have to preface this by saying that I had a gazillion things to do in a very short time frame that morning.  My mind was everywhere.  One of the things I had to do was pick up some groceries for dinner that night.  I rush through the grocery store in record time and got everything on my list - three bags worth to be exact - $39.42 worth to be even more exact.  End of grocery trip, right?  Wrong.  I get home and opened the back door to retrieve my groceries.  THEY'RE GONE!  What could have possibly happened to my groceries?   I retrace my steps in my mind.  I remember pushing the cart to my car.  Did I really push the cart to my car and not take the groceries out of my cart?  I was on the phone, but...wow, that's bad.  Even for me. 

So I go back to Harmons to see if I can retreive my groceries.  It's only been five minutes.  They should still be there.  I drive around the parking lot looking for a lonely cart with three bags of groceries.  Nothing.  Now I have to go inside and actually ask if somebody found the groceries, which is slightly embarassing.

I see the front manager, who is the same woman who bagged the groceries for me.  

"Uh, hi...Did someone by chance turn some lost groceries in?"

"Lost groceries?"

"Well, yes.  I was just here, and I think I left my groceries in my cart instead of putting them in my car."

"Oh, I remember bagging them for you.  Which groceries are you missing?"  

"Well, all of them...three bags..."

"You don't have any of them?"

"No."  How can I possibly justify my dumbness here.  I can't.  "I forgot to put them in my car."  

"Well, nothing has been turned in.  Do you remember what they were?

"Yes.  Thanks.  I'll just go get them again."  Really, I wonder what she was thinking at this point.  

She then tells me to go ahead and get the groceries again, but not to pay for them this time.  I object.  She insists that I get all of the groceries I got before, but not to pay for them.  Now, is that customer service or what?  

This isn't the end.  Later after I get home, I have to load something in the very back of my van.  What do I find?  THREE BAGS OF GROCERIES - THE ORIGINAL BAGS THAT I THOUGHT WERE LOST.  They were in the very back of the van.  I just checked the back seat.

So now, I start feeling pretty good about myself.  Of course I wouldn't have pushed my cart all the way to my car and not unload the groceries.  I did load them.  I'm not loosing my mind.  Then I realize that this makes me look even dumber than just loosing my groceries - I had them and couldn't find them.  

So I go back to Harmons with my receipt.  I had to pay them back for the free groceries they gave me.  I prayed that the manager I talked to earlier was done with her shift.  She wasn't.  I then had to explain to her that I found the groceries I thought I had lost and needed to pay her back for the groceries she so graciously gave me earlier.  That conversation was as equally awkward as the first conversation.  I'm sure she thought I was a complete nut case.  I probably would have to agree.  

Moral of the story - if you're going to loose your groceries, loose them at Harmons.  Great cusomer service.