Unlike most people, I don’t use google.com to do searches as I prefer bing.com where I get the same answers faster plus I get ‘rewards’. Each time I make a search, do their daily quiz which doesn’t even take a minute or read the news so I can catch up on what I missed sleeping the night before I get rewards and they add up quickly.

Right now I have 11-$5 egift cards for Target. I need Epsom ink cartridges and I can get one of each color (4) for $50.88 plus I will get a 2% discount since I have a Target red card. If I want I can get it mailed without paying shipping. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

On Saturday I had this mental picture of shoppers ready to kill me because the poor cashier would have to scan 11 egift cards (actually printed out sheets of paper---mmmmm---what the paper and ink cost? Oh well)--so then I made mistake # 1. I went to the bing page, then the Microsoft page and finally the Target website. After 20 minutes trying to find an answer to how I could solve that cashier’s (and my problem) I was able to ‘chat’ with a rep and after 20 minutes (anyone keeping track of time?) he said he wouldn’t be able to wait until I check out something he suggested as it was against the rules, that I could always come back to the chat page (and start from the beginning explaining what the problem was?)

Looking through the Target website page—and it isn’t readily available—I finally found a phone #. It was Saturday evening—bet you didn’t have an exciting Saturday as I was having!—so I wasn’t sure if I wouldn’t get a ‘call back Monday’ message but I didn’t as someone immediately answered the phone!

After explaining what the problem was he said he would help me but first saying I could only use 4 egifts at a time unless combined the 11 I had. I didn’t say “Duh!” but politely said, “How do we do that?”

Okay, I could go on for a couple of more hours but let me just say I had to give him first the 15 numbers of the gift card and then 8 access numbers which he then had to type into whatever computer he was using. With having to repeat most of them let’s just say it took over 42 minutes!

And here it comes—after it was all done he said I would have to go to the Target store’s service desk and give the person behind the counter all the papers and she/he would have to combine them all IF he/she could!!

Guess what I will be doing tomorrow? Yep, probably spending a few hours on the Target line until after I talk to the person behind the counter who will have to eventually (or I will insist on them) call the manager.

Still I see myself having to go in and out of the Target store 3 times in order to use the 11 egift cards to get the ink cartridges I want/need—4 of them twice and 3 for the last!

Good thing I am retired. :O)