It Never Hurts to Ask ...

“It never hurts to ask” has been one of my mantras for a long time. My theory is, "What's the worst that could happen?" And most of the time, the answer is simply that they will say no. Boy did it pay off to ask last night. Literally.

Hubby and I went to Kohl's to check out their selection of luggage. We have been "making do" with some falling apart, semi-working luggage for a while now. I really wanted new luggage before an upcoming trip on Sunday (details to follow in tomorrow's post), and hubby agreed that it was time. There was a BOGO sale going on, but even with that special, I was still a little taken aback by the prices. But we agreed that it was better to spend a little more for higher quality luggage that can take a beating, rather than replace it with average stuff every couple of years. So we pick out one medium and one small-sized suitcase and roll off to checkout.

As we are checking out, I notice some scratches on the backside of one of the handles. I mention this out loud to hubby, and the sales lady hears me as well. But by this point, he had already signed the receipt, so I don't expect her to offer a discount. She says that I can go pick out another one, and I tell her that it was the last one. She then says that we can take them to customer service in the back of the store, and they might be able to give us a discount, but who knows.

So we roll off to the back of the store. On the stroll back, hubby whispers to me, "You ask for a discount, I don't want to." Sticking to my mantra, I agree and we patiently wait in line. Correction ... I'm patiently waiting, but hubby on the other hand is playing with the non-damaged suitcase by spinning it around and around as fast as he can. He was very impressed with the four dual wheels that rotate 360 degrees (they are pretty nifty). He spins it a little too fast and it goes crashing to the ground, loud enough that the two people ahead of us in line turn around to see what the commotion is. I then whisper/hiss to him, "You are NOT helping our case here, they're going to think that we damaged it ourselves! OK, it's our turn."

Teeny Bopper Customer Service Girl: "Can I help you?"

Me: "Hi, we just purchased these suitcases and I noticed that this one is slightly damaged, and it's the last one. Is there anyway we can get a discount?"

Teeny Bopper Customer Service Girl: "Sure. But THEY could have done this for you up front." (shakes her head in disapproval)

Me: "Oh. They must just be lazy. You sure are working hard back here." (crossing my fingers that I'm scoring points with her)

She then starts the return and re-ring process, and it's taking a while, so I tell hubby that I'll be a few feet away looking at shoes. After all, I've just saved us some money, shouldn't I get to spend the savings on some new, cute fall shoes?

I'm still close enough that I can hear them conversing ...

Teeny Bopper Customer Service Girl: "So how much of a discount do you want? 10, 20%?

Hubby: "10% is fine." (My sweet hubby, not wanting to be greedy. I don't blame him, the scratch was barely visible, and you know it would have gotten scratched after it was thrown into the plane the first time anyway.)

Charming Customer Service Girl: "I'll give you 25% off."

Hubby: (Silence) "Uh. OK. Thanks!"

SAAAAWEEEET! Hubby then finds me in the shoe department and relays the conversation to me, adding, "I think she liked me!" I responded with "Awesome!" or something similar, and I guess he was hoping for some jealousy from me and was slightly bummed that I wasn't. I told him that teeny bopper customer service girls are welcome to flirt with him, as long as it means money in our pockets! Especially 25%, holy cow! I told him I'll be cashing in my shoe coupon at a later date. I expected 10% off, and we got 25% off, so I'm pretty sure that means an upgrade to Nine West!

Here's our nifty new Dockers luggage:

We then headed to Papa Murphy's Pizza to take a pizza pie home for a quick dinner. We recently discovered Papa Murphy's. If you haven't been to one before, it's the Subway of pizza joints. You basically build-your-own pizza and then take it home and bake it. It's delicious, and tastes fresher than delivery (and it's cheaper). We order The Cowboy which is a concoction of premium pepperoni, Italian sausage, fresh mushrooms, black olives and an herb & cheese blend. So good! It's usually $12.99 for a large, so we went to pay and they tell us the total is $8.50. Are we on a roll, or what?!? We didn't have to ask for that discount, but what a great way to end an already lucky night! Here's a stock photo to get your mouth watering:

So remember ... it never hurts to ask!