Today I went to the mall with Ziva and my friend, Chany. I was super excited because there was a crazy sale at H&M...up to 70% off.
I learned a few things today.
1. I can't bring Ziva to the mall anymore- It was miserable for her except for the few moments of absolute elation- when I let her walk around and pretend she was totally independent (I love her wobble- she's really walking now!), when she very happily drank half of my smoothie and when we sat down for an enormous salad of everything you could imagine. Oh, and of course when she grabbed her favorite clothing off the shelves.
2. H&M in Israel has this weird European style OR my fashion sense is going completely out the window.
3. Shilav gives you a generous 14-day window to return anything, and well... I should have known that. (Story below)
I've been having a hard time buying baby clothes in Israel- actually any clothes for that matter. Most of the time, it's really cheap material, very expensive and it's hard to find the styles that I like and are comfortable. There are definitely exceptions (like the Renuar jean skirt I'm wearing now), but generally it's been tough. Yehoshua's work gave him a gift certificate to Shilav when Ziva was born, so I thought that I would just stock up on toys and maybe some necessities. When I went there, I saw this little jean jumper with a red, white and blue tank top attached, and I actually thought it was pretty cute. It was overpriced- like 130 NIS or something like that. It never fit Ziva. It was larger than her actual size but I think that it wasn't cut for her body type. (or maybe her Huggies diaper tush)
I bought it in April, and came back today to return it. Granted, it was a good amount of time later... may have been cutting it close to even the Target 90-day return policy. I didn't even think about that though! I saw the same line of clothing in the store, and since I still had the tags on the outfit and it was in perfect, new condition- I went to pick out what I wanted to exchange it for. I found super cute pink crib sheets and a blanket with a cupcake on it, and a ridiculously expensive bib ...getting Ziva a bib was long past due.
I came up to the register with a tired and kvetchy Ziva. The cashier was actually really sweet- he didn't scoff at my lack of Hebrew and honestly looked sad when he said, "But you bought this in April, I don't think you can exchange it," as he ran back to ask the manager if he could make an exception. He came back and sad "No, she won't allow it." I say, "Is there anything you could do?" So he brought me back to talk to her myself. She didn't even come out to me, I had to go to the warehouse/office area of the store.
Then this softly spoken Israeli with an amazing American accent succeeded in making me feel like crap. How could she look at Ziva's cute face and be so mean? She pretty much told me off with comments like "What were you thinking?" "WHY would you bring it back so late?" "We don't have to tell you our policy it's written right here on the tag." "I don't have to do anything for you." Blah blah blah. It sounds nicer than it felt. She decided to let me exchange it but only for clothing. I asked her why, since I had already chosen out what I wanted and would be spending at least 100 NIS over the outfit I was returning. "It makes a difference to me as a manager." Okay?
So I walk out to the clothing section...buy one get the second 1/2 off. Not bad. I thought maybe I'd get something for Ziva and something for the newborn baby boy upstairs. As I looked at the clothing, I felt tears coming to my eyes. Oh man, stop Rebecca...don't make this emotional! I literally held back from crying! Between the woman being so mean to me and the stitching I saw already coming off the 140 NIS dress, I was so upset. I also knew that I'd probably have to put the bedding back on the shelf, and I already had fallen in love with it. Be Israeli, be Israeli...go back...ask again... is there any chance she'd change her mind?
This time, she comes out to the floor. I wasn't Israeli at all. I didn't want to be rude back to her because I didn't think that would get me anywhere. I just wanted to be honest, and feed her ego a bit. "Listen, I really really appreciate that you are letting me exchange this outfit for full credit, but I honestly can't find any clothing I like. I found this bedding and bib, which my daughter really needs, and I will be spending more here if I buy this instead of just exchanging it for clothing." She babbled on about the policy and said that "in the future, I need to return it within 14 days..." annnnnnd "okay........finnnnee... I'll let you do it this time." I was SHOCKED! I hardly ever do things like that, and I can't believe I got what I wanted in the end.
I don't know what the moral is, but Target is awesome. I'm glad that I live in Israel, and something as simple as Target can be a novelty.
