I'm Confused.

I know, not the biggest news flash, but seriously. Here is a situation where I am trying to do the right thing and be a good customer, and, well...that's where I get confused.

After much persuasion, Ethan agreed we could replace the annual 'adventure' of picking out a fresh Christmas tree, stringing it with lights, cussing at the tree stand that doesn't fit right, worrying about kids eating needles, and all that other drama with an artificial tree. So after Christmas, we ordered one from a reputable merchant who shall currently remain nameless. Tree shows up in 2 heavy heavy heavy boxes, we assemble it and find two problems:

1. It's too tall
2. It's ugly as hell

Ethan returns the tree to the local store and refund is processed, no problem. All is happy in the world, right? Wrong.

About a week later, a heavy heavy heavy box shows up on our doorstep, looking suspiciously like one of the boxes the first tree arrived in, from the same reputable merchant. We have yet to open the box (or receive a second box), but I'd lay some good money down that it's half a Christmas tree sitting in our dining room and the store just messed up the shipping label when they tried to send it back to the warehouse.

I finally get around to calling the store today, to find out what I should do with this box. Ideally, I'd like them to give me a label so we can send it back to them without having to haul it halfway across town, but if we need to take it to the store, then so be it.

The lady told me to give it to Goodwill or throw it away or just do whatever I want with it. That she was very sorry for the inconvenience, but since I had my refund, that was the most important thing. And she made it sound like sending me a shipping label would be way too inconvenient FOR THEM. Because clearly, having half of a tree sitting in their warehouse is doing them a lot of good. And I'm sure Goodwill would love for me to drop a 100 lb box on their doorstep with half a tree in it.

Strange world that we live in...guess the economy and environment are doing a little better in some people's eyes!