A VALENTINE SPLURGE – Money in the Bank

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. My Harley Stud and I have never been known to "go big" for this particular holiday. Truth be known, I bought a card (he didn't) but I forgot to give it to him until today right after I finish writing this. I had a long to-do list for this weekend. Housekeeping, bill-paying, tax preparation, and more housekeeping are just a few of the items that are screaming to be completed. Yesterday, for the love of Cupid, we decided to chuck it all and spend a little time together. Nothing too mushy, gushy, but still it was time well-wasted together.

Try not to be too jealous as I regale you with the details of our romantic errand running outing. First stop was the green market where local vendors gather at a rural nursery once a month to sell their wares. MHS's sister, The Artiste and her husband, Deadender have a booth there. They are photographers with a greeting card business and are quite talented in anything concerning art and design. We stopped by to visit them and then checked out the other vendors. I bought some homemade dog biscuits for Mayzie and Pixie and that was about as much browsing as MHS would allow. I think next month MHS and I will both be happier if I leave him at home and steal my SIL away from her booth again to shop with me.

We made a quick stop at the pet store for a change in dog food. Next, I twittered and texted while MHS ran into Napa. I once again would like to apologize for bragging about the excitement that is MY LIFE.

Last but not least was a stop at Publix, our local grocer. For the record, I remembered to take the bags inside with me this time. MHS and I stopped at the bakery case and made an executive decision to screw the diet and splurge a little. It was Valentine's Day. He selected a slice of coconut covered nut cake and I chose a double, dark, dense, chocolate piece of heaven. They were packaged and priced together by the baker.

While our purchases were being checked and bagged (in reusable shopping bags) I asked MHS to go the service desk and buy us two lottery tickets as I was "feelin' lucky." He took one look at the two people long line and said he wasn't going to wait in that line for two lottery tickets. No problem, I quickly swiped my debit card, punched all the appropriate buttons and left him there to finish with the bagger. I finished getting the tickets just as he was wheeling the cart out of the door. We loaded up the car and made the six mile journey back home.

The delectable dessert package had been placed in a bag all by itself. I brought in this bag and left the rest to MHS to carry in because that's why I got married. As I carefully removed the container from the bag my eyes froze on the price sticker. There must have been some mistake. I did a double-take. I didn't have on my glasses and figured I must be seeing things. I looked again and it still read the same. There in bold print on the sticker was a price of $48.00! FOR.TWO.SLICES.OF.CAKE! Now my intention was to splurge but I was thinking calorically. It was about this time that MHS came in with the rest of our purchases. I asked what he had done with the receipt. He produced it from his pocket and asked why I needed it.

Now remember that I had run off to buy the lottery tickets and left him with the cashier and the bagger. Apparently there had been a conversation that went a little like this:

Cashier: Wow, this cake must be really good.

MHS: I hope so.

Cashier: It's really expensive.

MHS: Well, we've never had it before but I hope it's good.

And that was the end of it.

**Excuse me, while I pick my jaw up off the floor at the absurdity of the whole scenario.**

Don't you think that the cashier might have mentioned that it was $48.00. That's $24 per slice! No, instead she just said, WOW, it's really expensive…….which by the way it was even at the correct price.

I grabbed the cake and the receipt and jumped in my little go-mobile and made the trip back to the store where I politely explained to the manager that while I was willing to spurge on the calories in honor of all that is Hallmark glitz and Hershy kisses, I WAS NOT going to spend $48 on two freaking pieces of cake.

And then I punched him in the face.

**Back to reality**

He apologized all over himself. He sent me to the courtesy desk to obtain my refund while he went back to have the cake re-priced. I personally thought it should have been given to me as a courtesy being that I had to drive the extra 12 miles round-trip to correct the error but in the end I was just happy to spend $6.00 for the cake instead of $48.00.

The moral of the story is this:

Apparently there are idiots all over the place people sometimes make mistakes. This can result in a big dent in your budget if you're not careful. My Money in the Bank tip of the week is: ALWAYS CHECK YOUR RECEIPT!

Check out these Money Savers:

Pseudo at Pseudonymous High School Teacher

"Car talk"

Sprite's Keeper

"Step Away from the Sale"