John had won a gift certificate in a golf tournament for a local store here called Watermark Corners. They sell a lot of stationary, as well as custom orders for wedding and baby showers, etc, but also unique kids toys as well as artisan jewelry, specialty food, cooking gadgets, and certain dishware - some crafty stuff, and other pretty things.
It's a cool store. Kinda pricey. But fun to browse.
And I had a gift certificate! And then I looked at it for the first time in months. And, to my disappointment, the certificate expired in November. (gah!) The store is located very close to the Moline bridge access to the Island and so it was kind of a pain to get to - until the Moline bridge reopened.
But the expiration was understandable. John did win it in June. I think I've had my hands on it since the first week I lived here. However, I still held onto it despite it's potential worthlessness.
When at a luncheon that was located across the street from the store, I decided that I would have to browse the store again and look around for something to buy. But not to fall in love with any item in case they decided that I couldn't use the expired certificate. It's a local store and the certificate was hand written, so I was counting on the generosity of the store manager, as I was sure it was to be a local decision.
And I found some Casafina stoneware. (microwave, oven and dishwasher safe!) They have all kinds of cute stuff, and I just loved the color of the green. So, I found a plate that was ~$25 (my gift cert amount) and walked up to the cash register, braced for rejection. They informed me that the ENTIRE table of Casafina stoneware was 75% off!! And so I picked up a larger plate and a divided server as well.
I was getting very hopeful, and really anxious. I didn't want to have to fake ignorance about the expiration date on the gift certificate. And they noticed, but didn't explicitly point out the fact that this certificate was expired. The manager had to come up and she looked at me and said "You must have won this." I told her that yes, indeed, my husband won it in a golf tourney and I just haven't had time to get over here to use it but now that we were moving overseas, I thought I should come by. I failed to mention that I live about a mile away on the island.
This led to a question of where we were moving and why. I think she felt OK about ignoring the expiration date for an active duty military family, though she didn't mention that there was any need to override anything. She just instructed the clerk on what to do. She may have just wanted to extend a courtesy to a customer for all I know. It was a good business decision in my opinion.
And so. I was able to walk away with 3 pieces of Casafina stoneware that retail at about $90 total for absolutely FREE.
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| This is the original plate I was looking at. |
Woot! I am so excited! I hope to be able to use it somewhat. I took these pictures, then promptly put all the bubble wrap around them and put them in the closet. I need to make sure that stuff gets properly packed!
Along with our wedding china. I'm starting to wonder if we should take the china. Trusting movers overseas...I dunno. But then again, it would be just as bad trusting movers anywhere. And at that rate, we would never unpack the stuff until John retires.
Beautiful stuff! I love nice dishes and stoneware especially.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find especially great about what the store manager is that you said you were moving overseas, so it's not like she even has an expectation of keeping you as a future customer. You're leaving, and she still did it. Pretty cool.
Indeed. I'm pretty happy about it. :)
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