Ask and You Will Get Some Money Back

My daughter got an Aeropostale hoodie for Christmas, but it was too small for her.  Armed with the gift receipt, we headed to the nearest mall with an Aeropostale store.  Luckily for us we found an exact same hoodie in a bigger size.  I noted that the hoodie was already in the bargain rack along with other winter clothes, giving way to spring items.  At the counter the sales clerk was about to do a “like for like” exchange but I asked her:

“Is there a price difference?”

The clerk kindly obliged me and checked.  There was an $11 difference!  She could not give me cash back, but gave me a store gift card with that amount.  Of course my daughter happily turned around and found something else to buy in the store,

$11 might not be much in this case (although that is half a tank of gas for me).  However, it is money that you are entitled to.  Why not take it?  Some store clerks might tell you that it is not possible to give you money back.  Just point out that it is just like you are returning the item for a full refund and buying the same item for its current cheaper price.

My daughter noted that the clerk did not volunteer to check for a price difference, and admitted that she would never have thought to ask about it either.  I hope she learned a valuable lesson there, just as she did when we went clothes shopping with $50 and a coupon.

Good Buy: The Agony and The Agony

A mixture of dread and hope.  That is what I felt all the while I was reading Ms. Betty Londergan’s book “The Agony and The Agony”.  As a parent of a 14-year old daughter and a 13-year old son, I am certainly in the throes of the agony of parenting teenagers.  They drive me up the wall.  They drive me nuts.  Sometimes they drive me to drive to the nearest bookstore cafe, where I can soothe my feelings with latte and chocolate cake while getting lost in a suspense novel.

In the introductory part of the book, Ms. Londergan mentioned that raising teens isn’t funny, so much so that she thought it was time for a funny book on the subject.  She certainly has  a great sense of humor.  However, I felt that the earlier chapters of the book were too focused on being funny that I equated it to watching a parenting seminar on Saturday Night Live.  I also didn’t care much for the flippant references to coping with the parenting issues by drinking alcohol.

Halfway through, Ms. Londergan toned the humor down a bit and her insight on the issues facing the parents of today’s teens really shine through.  From filthy mouths to smelly mouths, outright hostility to manipulative sweetness, hilarity to depression, underachievement to overachievement and from partying to sleeping all day, the book covers a wide spectrum of teen behaviors that cause parental angst.  Post-Teen views shared in the book put issues into perspective, and the book gives parents hope that this phase will pass.

Fast-paced, funny, insightful and frighteningly true, this is a must-read for parents and guardians of tweens and teens.