Another reason I "love" winter

As mentioned in my previous post, it is getting colder around here. It dips below freezing at night. This morning at breakfast it felt quite cold and then I noticed that spud's teeth were chattering and Sprout's lips were a little blue. So, I checked the thermostat and sure enough it was 17 degrees in the house. So, being the astute and amazing mother that I am I went to turn on the furnace. Way Cooler stopped me.

"You can't do that".

"What do you mean? It's cold, we turn on the furnace. That's why we bought the house with one."

Apparently, Way Cooler had been meaning to get a new furnace filter but was waiting for the right time. The 6 trips to local big box home improvement stores in the last 2 weeks were apparently not the right time.

So, since I am a stay at home mom and really have nothing better to do in my day, off we went to one of the big boxes. The experience was less than pleasant, prompting the following letter. (Names have been changed to protect the integrity of the big box store.)

Dear Store that rhymes with Bona,

This morning I took my 2 children 1 and 3 to one of your stores to purchase a furnace filter. It was a less than thrilling outing for me. Let me explain why.

While I appreciate you having "race car" shopping carts to enhance my little ones shopping experience, they seem to detract from mine. First of all, shopping is enough of a battle without having to push a tank. Could these cars be any bigger? Not only do they fit my children and my furnace filters I still had room for the Swiss Family Robinson and a furnace as well.

While I understand that you are a store and you must sell stuff, surely 700,000,000 sq feet is enough to display every home improvement item ever created with out having to put displays in the centre of aisles so that the aforementioned tank cannot maneuver without knocking something over or having to move dangerously close to the screwdrivers so that my 18 month old can reach out and touch something dangerous. Over and over again. If you are missing a few screws, they are in my son's pocket.

I understand that we are in a labour crisis and so I have come to anticipate no customer service whatsoever, so imagine my joy when I actually saw an employee. I realized the joy was premature when I noticed said employee throwing the buckets around and mouthing words that I usually only hear at a hockey rink. We decided to find the furnace filters on our own.

We finally found the filters in what I am sure is a perfectly logical place for them, right in the middle of lighting. After all, furnaces have pilot lights. I get ya.

After paying for my filters and receiving double the air miles, (I assure you, I will put those 4 miles to good use) I noticed a sign "please do not remove cart from the store." Of course. Makes sense that now I have to carry said furnace filters, an 18 month old and a three year old into the safest place possible, a parking lot. You would think, based on the size of the cart you provide to me, that your store would wish me to purchase a lot, but once I pay for it, I seem to be on my own. So, as I struggled across the parking lot with a 3 year old who was too busy talking to hold my hand and an 18 month old longing to run free and 2 20x25 filters it occurred to me, I must be on candid camera. That must be the reason for this rule. Nope.

I went through all of that and I don't even get to be TV?

And this is why my shopping experience was less than thrilling.

Thank-you Bona (heads).

Sincerely,

The not-so Happy Geek.