Being Cheap (I mean "frugal") Fail #1

Since I'm not cutting gaming in my frugality adventure, the Toys R Us "Buy 2 games, get 1 free" promotion is perfect. Dean and I have never shopped there, so we decided to give TRU a try. Dead Space and a couple copies of Saints Row 2 shall be ours.

We find a store about 10 miles out of the way from Gamestop and Best Buy. They have Saints Row 2, but not Dead Space. Dude tells us to try back the next day. Okay, fine. Last night we try again. I ask the lady if they have "Dead Space". She tells she's been off work for a couple days and she has "A TON" of boxes in the back that she hasn't gotten to yet.. I stand there for a few seconds thinking she might magically burst into customer service spirit and offer to take at least a couple minutes looking. I'm not asking for miracles. Just a couple minutes to fucking humor me. Nothing. So I turn to my husband and I say "Honey, should we just go to Best Buy?". This is my approach to prompt her that this is her last chance.

Nope. She doesn't want to help us. I give in and ask her "Well when do you think you'll have your boxes unpacked?" She responds, "probably by Friday" and then tells us that she doesn't even know if she actually got the game. It might be one they're not getting. WTF.

At this point, I'm already writing the letter in my head that I'm going to send to TRU. An article yesterday reported that retailers have taken their biggest drop in sales in years. And here we are on our second trip miles out of the way, and we're clearly inconveniencing this poor lady because we want to buy something from her decrepit shitty store. Fuck that. I'm going to spend extra money at Best Buy. At least they have their shit on shelves, check the back when you ask, and even have fancy, futuristic computers to direct you to other stores if they're out.

My husband, not giving up as soon as I, suggests we try the TRU a city over. Another 10 miles and here we are at store #2 that coincidentally is across the street from the Best Buy corporate campus. Will seeing a huge gaming competitor out the window promote better service? Perhaps. The lady at this store was much more helpful and told us that their shipment was delayed until Monday for Dead Space and that everyone has been coming in looking for it. That sucks, but she at least had her shit unpacked and knew what was going on.

So we went to Best Buy. I had $45 in rewards gift certificates. *Sigh* I still might do some letter writing today. We'll see.