I [Heart] Wags...Or Do I?

There is a moral to the story, maybe...

I do rebates through Walgreens.
It's definitely a pain in the neck, but it saves my family so much money. I can't remember the last time I paid for shampoo, excedrin, hair gel, lipstick, nail polish, the list goes on...and on...
I have to be organized about it, or I end up losing money (the products purchased are actually quite expensive) & it's lots of money out of pocket at first (until you reach the point where you're getting gift cards on the last rebates, which pay for the following months).

If you so much as purchase the incorrect ounces, you lose your money. If you buy the wrong color, the wrong scent, the wrong strength, you're out of luck.

But master the system & you have not only enough maxi-pads to last you 'til menopause, but you have yourself a fun hobby! (if you enjoy 'cheap thrills'!)

This past couple of months, I've tried to venture out even further & use more coupons, to actually make money.
And for whatever reason, this irritates the employees at wags. I guess it's straying from the norm of the regular, cash-using, coupon'less tender.
But those who make the $ at walgreens, have to know, us rebate-users, are the butter on their bread.
I easily drop $100 each month at walgreens. Compare that to $50-75 at target or $5 at kmart. Regardless of the reason you enter a store, you inevitably spend more, buy more, once you're in there.
So, they're smart to have the rebates.

Go back to Aug 30th. It was the first day you could buy the Sept products which were great this time around. Tons of great stuff: nail polish, chapstick, body wash, etc. So, I went on the first day possible, to avoid the products selling out before I could get them (which happens usually). I dropped $50+ & went on my merry way...happy at my savings, UNTIL a $10 off $50 coupon was emailed to me. Effective the following week. UGH. I could saved another $10. THAT is worth it to me. So, I just re-bought what was available (all but about 2 of the items) w/ my $10 off coupon with the intentions of returning the stuff I bought the previous week (WITHOUT the coupon).
Only, when I went in today to return the $30 worth of stuff I had re-bought, I was treated possibly the worst I ever have at a business.

At Wags, they have some type of management handle returns. So, when I came in & only one register was working (I'm guessing something electrical from yesterday's horrible storm), the employee had me use her line & called a manager over. There was no one in line yet, or I would have given them "ups". And when the manager came over, the look on her face could've made snakes hide.
"YOU'RE RETURNING THE FREE AFTER REBATE ITEMS?"
"Um yes, I bought them weeks ago without the coupon, so I re-bought them last Friday w/ the 10-off coupon."
"You can't do that."
"Uh-why?"
"Because you maybe sending these in for a rebate after you get your money back."
"But I'm not doing that, you can't do that anyway."
"Well, I'm marking these out on your receipt."
"That's fine, I'll be the only one to see the receipt, I submit my receipts online."
"BUT I THOUGHT YOU WEREN'T GOING TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK ON THESE ITEMS. YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T GOING TO DO THAT. THAT'S CRIMINAL ACTIVITY."
"I'm not going to."
"Good, because you wouldn't be able to online. It won't work now."
"It won't?.... Well, I still have bodywash on there that wasn't available last week. That I'm obviously not returning. I hope I can still get a rebate on that?"
"BUT YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T GOING TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK ON THESE ITEMS??"
"Not these that I'm returning. The thing I didn't return that's at home."
"Well, I will return your money this time, but it's a rule. You can't return items that are free after rebate."
"Really? Is that a new rule?"
"YES, it is."
"Is that corporate-wide? Or just your rule?"
"Yes, it's a walgreens rule."
"That's really strange....
so, let's say I'm not a rebate user, but I buy a vacuum-seal bag (which were F.A.R. last month), but get home & it's the wrong size.
So I won't be able to return it?
I don't think that's really the rule."
"You won't be able to do that anymore!! (by this time, I've clearly provoked her to anger, I don't really know why) FILL THIS OUT!"

And I wasn't really willing to deal w/ someone like that any longer. I filled out the form, but not before I very obviously wrote her name down. And on the ride home, I called the manager, who informed me that she had already told him about the interaction.

And the bottom line I told him was that if that's how the employees there talk to the customers, I'm happy to go down the block to one of the other GAJILLION (yes, I said gajillion) walgreens to shop.

BUT,
that's not even the part that aggravated me the most. It was that when I got home minutes later, I didn't happily greet everyone. I was mad. My blood pressure was up. I found myself snapping at the kids instead of giving them a few chances.
I let some snotty girl, who was having a bad day (or year or life) effect my mothering. I allowed that to take a few precious moments from my precious kids.

And I hope to not let that happen again.
Free toothpaste isn't worth that.