Exchanges

It was the day after Christmas and Kristina was playing with her brand new camera. She had been asking for a camera all year long and Shane and I had finally broken down and gotten her one for Christmas. Around the beginning of the fall my camera broke so we let her open her camera on Christmas Eve so I could borrow it to take pictures Christmas morning and then it was all hers. So, she was so excited to be able to sit down and play with her new toy. She was reading the book and clicking buttons and flipping switches when the camera turned off.

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"Mom" she said "my camera just shut off by itself."

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I walked into the living room and fiddled with it a little bit and handed it back to her. "No clue" I said. She sat there for about another 30 minutes or so reading the book and even changed the batteries out when she stomped into the kitchen, hand on hip and said "It is broken! We need to go exchange it!"

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I wanted to allow the exchange/refund crowds to die down a little bit before we went so we waited until the following day. I had my receipt in my hand, the camera and all its belongings in the box and out the door we went to exchange this camera. Now, I don't want to say where we got the camera (Wal-Mart) because I wouldn't want to give this company any sort of bad pubilicity (Wal-Mart) for selling me a camera that broke only after one day of use (Wal-Mart). haha

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As we walked up to the counter the lady asked what the problem was (let me just start off by saying this woman loved her job and was so happy to be there...ever had one of those?). I explained to her that the camera just turned itself off and would not come back on and explained to her everything we did when she started tapping her finger on my receipt. I stand there looking at her as if she were nuts and she stared back at me with the same look still tapping her finger. I finally broke the staring match off by saying "Are you trying to point something out to me?"

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"Lady" she said....now let me stop you right there. Calling me "lady" or "woman" is an insult to me. Calling me "ma'am" doesn't bother me so much but the tone that goes along with those words sends shivers down my spine. "Lady, the receipt plainly says right here that all refunds or exchanges on cameras must be done within 30 days of purchase."

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Every thought running through my mind at this moment was not acceptable. I closed my eyes and opened them staring straight into hers. "Ma'am, I bought this camera at the after Thanksgiving Day sale. I had no way of knowing that it wasn't going to work properly until now!"

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"Hate that for you!" she popped back.

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To keep from going to jail I picked up the camera box, snatched the reciept up and turned around to walk off. In the process of slinging myself around the end of the camera box came open and the camera went flying one way, the book went another, the cd went yet another and every single person checking out stopped to look at me. This only enraged me even more but humiliated Kristina. "Come on, Mom, let's get out of here!"

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As I walked to the door I looked over into my left hand not realizing that I was holding the warranty paperwork the entire time. "Hold it right there Kristina, we have a warranty on this thing. We are going back!"

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We rounded the corner to the customer service center and I was like a woman on a mission. "What if I have a warranty on the camera, can I get a refund then?" I asked sarcastically.

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This lady wanted so bad to tell me no because she and I were on the same page with frustration at this moment. "Yea, you can" she finally said. She was slamming and slinging and huffing and puffing because I was the last person that she wanted to give a refund to. As we walked to the truck I sort of felt a little bit of victory but then at the same time I felt shame for my actions. I sat right there in the truck and prayed in front of Kristina asking for forgiveness for my actions because I surely wasn't acting like a Christian and was most definitely not a light for God's army!

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As I drove to work today and passed Best Buy I got to thinking about that day because we have yet to find Kristina a new camera...here it is February and she is still owed a Christmas gift. I began to think about refunds and exchanges and about that time the song The Old Rugged Cross started playing on my I-pod and the chorus of that song struck a cord with me. I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown.

You know some days I feel like my cross is so big and so heavy that I can barely drag it around. It is as if I bend over, grab hold of it over my shoulder and shuffle a few steps and have to stop and rest and by the end of the day I realize I have gone nowhere. There are days where if I didn't have that cross I am just not sure how I would have made it through the day because that was all I had to cling to. But, most days I am proud to have that cross along side me because I want others to see that cross and pick up and carry their very own. "...anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." Matthew 10:38.

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Don't get discouraged by your cross. Don't look at your cross as if it is a burden. Always remember that there will be a day when you will carry that cross up to the "customer service counter" and exchange that baby for a crown!