I'm not a good storyteller, sorry, but dig this...
Last night I was emptying out my wallet, when I found an old Circuit City gift card a friend gave me for graduation. I remembered using it once to pick up the Alien 2-disc DVD. I checked the balance - I had $16 and change remaining on the card, and apparently Circuit City takes out $2 every month just because they are nazis. 'Bastards,' I say to myself before I go to bed.
So today I went to Circuit City and decided I'd get the Aliens DVD to go with my Alien DVD. It was roughly $20, so I expected to empty out the gift card and pay maybe $5 extra.
It should have been really easy. Me give the lady the gift card, she tells me how much else I owe her. I pay her. I leave happy.
But that'd been too easy.
I hand her the card, I say, 'It should have about $16 on it, so I'll have to pay some cash, too.'
She says, 'Okay,' takes the card, and says "Yes, it has $16 on it." I'm thinking to myself, 'Thankyou, I'm aware of that.'
She then fiddles with the card and the computer, then tells me how much I owe her, roughly $6 - I pay her - she asks 'Would you like to keep the card or just throw it away?'
Then I kind of laugh and say 'Well I don't need any extra junk in my wallet,' afterall, what the hell would I want to keep an empty gift card for? Memories?
She says 'Well, it has 2 dollas and twenty-one cent on it,' to which I reply, 'Umm... What?' Yes, she did not empty out my card, instead only deducted $16 from it. So now she asks if I want to throw away the card that she left $2.21 on it.
I say, 'Well I didn't want you to take out $16... I just wanted to empty this thing out so I can get rid of it. I don't want a card with $2 on it. Can you just give me the $2.21?' She says, 'I'm new here, so I dont know how to do that and even if I did I don't know if I can.'
I frown, and realize I better get someone else to help, 'Okay I'll go to customer service then.'
I take the card with exactly $2.21, I take my reciept and the Aliens 2 disc DVD. I then wait in line. When it's finally my turn, this attractive young lady asks 'How can I help you?' I say, 'This cost a little over $20. This card had a little over $16 on it. I wanted to empty this card and pay the rest in cash. However, the lady over there deducted exactly $16 from my card, leaving only $2.21 on it, and I had to pay $5 in cash when I could have just given her a few dollars. I'd really like to have my $2.21 back.'
She takes the card, walks away.
Fast forward 5 minutes of me standing quietly.
She finds some guy working for the store, speaks to him, he shakes his head 'No,' I'm thinking he's saying, 'No we are not going to give this guy his $2.21.' Maybe even, 'No, I'm not doing anything - I'm just fiddling around with the speakers here on display.'
Anyway, fast forward another 5 minutes and some guy wearing a BLACK outfit (as opposed to the Circuit City red) comes up to the register and he's like, "Yea, give him his $2.21."
I smile, 'Yea! I get my money!'
So she gives me exactly $2.21 and says, 'Sorry for the trouble.'
Alright, end of story. To some of you guys $2.21 may seem like petty money to have to go through so much crap through - but god damn - these Circuit City nazi's had taken $2 a month from my account for who knows how long, then want to leave $2 on the card so they can take that, too?
Grr.