judyonthenet

I did a bit of shopping this weekend, and GameStop and JoAnn’s is getting some thumbs down from me…

GameStop has this booklet ad they have on their counters all the time called “The Guide”. I don’t know how long they usually lay around, but the most recent one (with GTA4 on the cover) advertised that God of War 2 for PS2 was going to be Greatest Hits. This means it’d be getting a price drop from $39.99 to $19.99, but it also means it’d be getting the obnoxious red banner on the cover. I consider myself a bit of a collector (and a bit anal retentive), so I wanted to get the game before stores were flooded with Greatest Hits versions, even tho both version have identical contents. God of War was amusing enough, so God of War 2 was probably also amusing. According to the CAG forums, the ad said deals were good through April 6th, so I figured I’d be able to get the game at the Greatest Hits price minus the Greatest Hits banner pretty easily last Saturday (April 5th).

Oh, how naive I am! Even though the ad had been around GameStop stores for a few days already, the GameStop system was never updated with the new price. I walked into the nearest GameStop last Saturday, greeted by a guy behind the counter who, based on his enthusiasm in greeting me, I assumed was the manager. I wanted to get God of War 2 for $20, but it was $40 in the system. I said it should be on sale, and I asked about the booklet ad they usually have. The guy said the ads were in the back and weren’t supposed to be out yet, but he could bring one out from the back, which he did. I flipped through the pages and found the advertised $20 God of War 2 game, pointing this out to him. He said since the ad isn’t supposed to be out yet, it should drop in price later this week. I asked when, and he said Tuesday… no wait, tomorrow. I asked if the ad says when it’s valid, and he said it should, and we both looked through booklet until we found it on the back. He read outloud that prices are “valid through April 6th” and followed it with “which must means it starts tomorrow”. What the hell, does he think I don’t know English or something? I’m like, “Come on, that’s totally not what it means!” He mumbled some mumbo-jumbo about how he hates “lawyer legalese” and how he’s not sure when the price is valid. He won’t give it to me today, so he gives me the store number to call and check tomorrow. He spent the entire time checking out his screen, so I don’t know if there was some corporate email with vague instructions on how to deal with the ad or something. What a bunch of bull-honkey.

The good thing to come out of that was he let me keep the ad. The next day, I went to Circuit City, grabbed a copy of God of War 2, and used the GameStop ad to pricematch it. The customer rep only hesitated to ask the guy next to her if they pricematch GameStop, to which he mumbled “uh-huh”. She rung me up, giving me an additional $2 discount from their pricematch guarantee, and I was able to use $13 of leftover Circuit City credit. Sweet. This was a satisfactory retail experience, by the way.

Also, the price officially dropped today, so if you’re looking for the game without the greatest hits label, you might want to check your local retailers soon.

I dropped by JoAnn’s this weekend to pick up some tulle. I’ve been visiting JoAnn’s a lot lately, as they have something on sale every weekend (but of course, never at the same time). With my recent urge to become more crafty (in a crafts sort of way, not in a shady politician sort of way) and seeing how ridiculously expensive veils are, I decided to try to make my own veil. I saw in an ad that tulle was on sale for 50% off, so I made sure to visit last weekend to get some fabric.

When I got to JoAnn’s, I asked a sales associate to help me choose a tulle for my veil, and she directed me to the 108″ wide white tulle. It was $2.69 a yard (I didn’t realize they had tulle that was above $1.99 a yard), but the sign was there saying tulle and matte net was on sale… except for “shinny tulle” (this exception was handwritten on the sign). I’m guessing they meant “shiny”, which eliminates pretty much any tulle with color in it, including some of the ivory shades. Maybe I’m wrong, but every colored tulle I looked at was labeled “shiny”. The ivory tulles weren’t white enough anyway, so I stuck with the white, even though my dress color may be paler than the tulle. This was just for fun/practice anyway, though I was disappointed I wasn’t going to be able to make my rainbow colored veil :P

I grabbed the bolt of white tulle and brought it to the area where they snip the fabric. I asked the lady to make that the tulle was 50% off, so she scanned it… and it wasn’t! She said it was probably because it was extra-wide. I’m kinda pieved, because nowhere on the signs does it say it excluded extra-wide tulle. The ad might have hinted at it by saying their tulle price range maxed at $1.99, but I thought it just meant they don’t have tulle more expensive than $1.99 a yard. And I’m pretty sure the lady who pointed out that bolt to me told me it was 50% off (and that the shiny stuff wasn’t). Luckily, I have a 40% off coupon handy, so I use it just so I can get my four yards of tulle that day. (Though in hindsight, I should have just bought it this upcoming weekend, since there’s like unlimited 50% coupons for next week. Ah, well, I lost $1.) I feel like the limitations on the tulle borderlines false advertising, so I’m seriously considering writing to JoAnn’s and complaining. No shiny tulle, and no extra-wide tulle. Pretty much the only tulle I can get is 78″ white tulle… maybe the black tulle wasn’t shiny. Grrr.

Edited 4/13 to add: I dropped by JoAnn’s today and saw that actually a lot of the colored tulle wasn’t shiny. I must have been blind when I was looking for tulle. The unadvertised exclusions still suck though :P

New thing I learned today: Tulle is indeed pronounced like “tool”. Good to know I’ve been saying it right.