April 12, 2004

• The rest of the story….
  
  When I told about my first trip into Sears to return that Craftsman
  “lifetime” guaranteed shovel, I left out an important part.  It
  was unrelated to the shovel business itself but has proven to be one of
  the most memorable aspects of the whole affair.  I think this may
  stay with me for the rest of my life.

  After I had exchanged my shovel for the first “gift card” refund for
  less than I’d originally paid for it, I walked around the store looking
  for something to buy with it, since they didn’t have any shovels of the
  type I need.  In the electronics department every screen there was
  showing the same movie, Finding Nemo.  I got there just in time for the dramatic climax and happy ending.

  I’m really glad it happened that way.  Some people might have
  considered that a spoiler, but I’m not one of those people.  For
  example, when I was reading Stephen King’s The Shining,
  once I got into the dramatic tension of the “REDRUM” incidents I turned
  to the end and read the last three pages.  If it had turned out
  differently, if the sympathetic protagonists had not survived, I
  wouldn’t have wanted to finish reading the book.  However, knowing
  that things did turn out okay in the end, I was able to read on and
  enjoy the plot developments.  In my mind I associate that desire to know that things will come out okay in the end with Bambi,
  a movie I saw as a small child.  I was profoundly affected by the
  murder of Bambi’s mother.  I don’t think I ever fully got over it.

  I tend to really become immersed in stories.  I feel what the
  dramatists want me to feel.  I’m maybe not the ideal audience
  because I can be jolted right out of my willing suspension of disbelief
  by a particularly egregious floater, but a well constructed plot and
  competent performance can suck me in and hold me rapt throughout. 
  I saw enough of the end of Finding Nemo
  to be sucked in, to care about that little fish.  And from his
  heroic actions there at the end I have taken an image and a phrase that
  will stay with me and inspire me, and I suppose may allow me to inspire
  others at difficult moments for the rest of my life:  “…just
  keep swimming.”

  On my walk through Sears that day I didn’t find anything that I really
  wanted in the price range of my little plastic token.  Likewise on
  a similar walkthrough when I’d gone back and got the rest of the refund
  after I’d complained about the shortage to Sears Central.  I had
  the card in my wallet for a week or so, when one day I had a bright
  idea.  One of my NA sponsees and her husband are new to the area,
  trying to establish themselves and furnish an apartment, and she is
  pregnant.  Last week at a meeting, I told her my shovel story and
  gave her the $35.00 card.  Her face lit up with a smile, she
  hugged me and did a little happy dance and crooned, “I’ll get things
  for the baby.”  That was, I thought, the appropriate happy ending
  to the story.

  Then a few days later, on two successive days I got a series of calls
  on the machine, three each day, that Caller ID told me came from Sears
  Central.  They left no message.   The following day,
  someone did leave a message saying they had been trying to contact me
  to find out if my dispute had been resolved to my satisfaction, but
  their calls kept being sent to my voice mail.  Well, DUH!  It
  took her two days and six calls to figure out what voice mail was
  for.  The quality of help these days!

  Briefly, I had an impulse to email Sears Central with the link to the story
  of the two employees scheming on how to give me the money without
  having the auditors down on them, and the other employee insulting
  me.  I even mentioned the impulse to Doug, but said to him, “that
  would just be mean.”  He agreed, and Greyfox agreed later when I
  told him of my impulse, so I guess that’s the end of that story.

  

  • 1:06 pm
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