Babies R Us R Cool

This past weekend my wife and I spent a combined total of 8 hours at the 2 Babies R Us stores in Charlotte. I'd scream, but I'm too tired.

You see, we're cursed. We like something and there's a good chance it won't be available. Or, if it is available, it has been or will soon be discontinued.

My wife found a bra she really liked: discontinued.
We registered for this really cool bar ware: discontinued.
I think we've got a list somewhere.

Anyway, my parents wanted to buy the furniture for the baby's room, so we went to purchase it this weekend. But the set we wanted to get from before was out of stock and not at the warehouse either. It would be at least 2 months before they got it in. Trouble is, we're due in 6 weeks. Not going to work.

It's available in white.
But it doesn't look good in white.
86 that set, let's find another.
Cool, found a great one: crib, dresser/changing table, hutch, armoire.
Except the hutch is on backorder.
No problem, it's not essential, we'll pick it up later.
10% off for opening a new credit card and 15% off for buying 3 pieces of furniture.
Except cribs aren't included in the deal.
But the hutch would have been.
Ok, let's get the glider and matching ottoman too while we're at it.
Sorry, that glider's been discontinued from the store.
You can special order it from the manufacturer, but it will take 12-15 weeks.
Can we get the grungy floor model?
Yes, $200 off.
Ok, but we'll need to order new cushions.
That'll be $200 and 12-15 weeks.
*sigh*, ok. What about the ottoman?
That's broken, but they've got one up in Concord (35 miles away).
Do they have a newer glider?
Yes, but it's incomplete, they don't want to sell it to you in that condition.

So to get all the furniture and discounts, we buy the floor model and I fly up to Concord in my old BMW to pick up the ottoman. Turns out the glider up there is only 2 months old (compared to 4 years of people "test-gliding" the one we'd already bought).

Will they sell it to us?
Yes, but it's missing a spring.
Why's that?
We took it out for a customer that wanted 4 springs (instead of the 3 it comes with).
If I say I don't care, will you sell it to me?
Sure. $50 off.

I buy both the glider and the ottoman and manage to squeeze them into my car and drive home.

The next day, we go back to our local store and return the old glider (that we never really took possession of yet, it was going to wait in the back room until all our other stuff showed up from the warehouse. BUT, my wife now wants 2 gliders so we'll be able to have one upstairs and one downstairs. So we special order another glider. Oh, and we get them to give us one of the springs from the old glider so we can fix the new glider.

All said and done, they managed to coordinate all the coupons and incentive discounts, the staff was super helpful and patient and we got everything we needed, including a much nicer bedroom set than we'd originally planed to get.

And it only cost us twice what we'd gone in to spend.

Yeah...