Sofa Drama

After playing around for hours changing the template of my blog, the last thing I actually wanted to do was blog! The best part is that after I made a few additions today, I saw something that I wanted to change. That will have to wait until tomorrow.

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Hmm. I'm not exactly sure where to start with this blog! I have lots of thoughts, but some of them simply aren't interesting, and the rest are jumbled. Well, I guess I'll start with some of the happenings of last week.

I can't exactly remember what day it was last week. It was near the end of the week, so really it was almost exactly a week ago. I believe it was Thursday... but really the exact day doesn't matter. I had stayed up too late the night before, and was attempting to sleep in when my mom came bursting in to my bedroom. At this point in life, I know that I am quite foolish in thinking that I will ever get to sleep in. If I sleep later than my mother, she will without a doubt come and wake me up for some reason. If I am sleeping in and my mother also happens to be sleeping (my mother has been known to easily sleep until 1 or 2pm) then Teddy will surely wake me up by 10am. That dog is a walking alarm clock, I swear! Anyhow, back to the point! My mom woke me up and started telling me how she wanted to get a new sofa. Seeing as she hadn't really mentioned this to me before, I was trying to figure out why she woke me up over it. My mother then decides that it would be funny to lay on my bed next to me, and pull the blankets away from my face to get me out of bed. After I grumpily told her to get off my bed, she tells me to hurry up and get ready, because she wants me to go sofa shopping with her. As she was walking down the hall away from my room, I hear her mutter something about why my dad won't be upset at "us" spending a good chunk of money on a new sofa. My poor dad, he basically just gives my mother his paycheck every two weeks, and never sees it again.

My mother went on to explain later that morning that the reason she wants a new sofa is because of the damage that the dogs have done to the current sofa. I agree that the dogs had ruined the previous sofa, but I wasn't sure why she thought a new sofa was the answer. Our current sofa was bought about eight years ago at Ethan Allen, and believe me when I say my mother spent an obscene amount of money at Ethan Allen. ($250 for an ugly lamp that threatens to tip if you touch it the wrong way?) If she's simply going to let the dogs run and romp on the new sofa, what is the point? She said that a new leather sofa will be the answer to our problems, because leather is so durable. If it gets dirty, we can clean it easily!

She ended up dragging me to a furniture store later that morning, telling me beforehand that she had plans of us going to look at furniture at another store as well, before buying anything. I know my mother too well, so I knew that it wasn't likely we'd be going to the other store. My mother is impulsive when she's on a mission to spend money, and she will let a stupid salesman talk her into buying entirely too much. When we walked in to the furniture store, the first thing she did is exclaim that she loved a chair. Why doesn't my mother understand that it's not the best idea to show a salesperson a ridiculous amount of enthusiasm? They want your money, and it is as though she was practically screaming at them to take her money. As we were walking through the store behind the salesman, I hissed at her "Mother! Do not show a salesperson how much you like something until you are sure you want to buy it! Otherwise he'll try to get you to walk out the door with it!" In which her reply was a very loud "What? What'd you say, Tamara??" So now the salesperson is turning around, very fakely joking with me about "Aw, are you keeping secrets from me?" Gag me. Take your fake enthusiasm and shove it where the sun doesn't shine! The dirty look I gave him in reply was enough for him to leave me alone after that.

I am not a rude and snotty person. I would never walk in to a store and purposely be rude to a salesperson... but at the same time, I will not play games with a salesperson. I would really just like them to leave me alone. If I have a question, I will ask. If I want to buy something, I'll let them know. The whole cramming something down my throat, telling me what a great deal I'm getting, drives me nuts! What bothers me even more is that my mom is the type of person will take their sales pitch hookline and sinker.

The salesguy knew what he was getting with my mother immediately. He kept trying to talk her in to this and in to that... telling her all about his kids... blah blah blah. Well, she bit, and by the time we walked out of there, she had decided on a sofa, two chairs, pillows, and some fabric for the new ottoman she planned on making. I tried to mention to her that she had wanted to check out the other store before deciding on anything, but she let that go in one ear and out the other. There is no reasoning with her when she's on a mission!

Anyhow, to make a long story short, we got home and my mom was so excited about the new furniture. She volunteered me to help her paint the living room this week, and she was discussing new curtains with my father. It wasn't until the next night that she looked at her receipt, and realized that the salesman had added on a bunch of extra charges that she never said yes to. There were charges for fabric protection, warranty, etc. My mother went on and on about this for about an hour before I went to bed. What was I supposed to say? I told you so was too harsh, so I couldn't say that. I had been sleeping for a few hours when my mother popped in to my room to wake me up. She told me that the salesman had also added a "furniture protection" charge. I was so mad! I said "Mom! You already told me this! It sucks, but it's 1am and there is nothing we can do about it right now! Let me sleep!"

Now, what my mother should have done at this point was to call the salesman and chew him out, and demand a refund. Instead, I felt like she kind of took the cowardly way out. She called the bank and had them cancel the check, which was a $25 charge to cancel the payment. She then ended up going to a furniture store that she used to shop at years ago, but claimed that she would never shop at again because their customer service was horrible. I didn't go on this shopping trip with her, but she bought a new sofa, coffee table, and dining set. Not that we needed a new dining set... but well, it's my mom. She buys stuff.

So that's the end of the furniture drama, at least for now. I may be spending my weekend painting the living room, which is not exactly the thrill of my life!

I have the pictures to prove this drama... I should add them to my photo blog soon.