Update on Cheapskate

You know I don't believe in buying books, waste of money when you can get them free at the library.

Well, first day with college essay tutor at house:::::: "Do you have a bookstore nearby where you can go and buy the Barron's SAT Study Guide?"

Me, "Yes, I can go to Border's on Rt 22". Off I go, but the kids who work there are useless and I come back with the wrong book. We call before I go back, no, they don't have that book. I call the Barnes & Nobles in Springfield, "Yes, we have the book". Before I go the tutor shows me the image of the front cover on his iPhone.

Get to the Barnes and Nobles which I hate going to because the people on Rt 22 down by Springfield drive like maniacs and its hard to make a U-turn. The image on the book doesn't look like what I need to get (it doesn't say "2009-2010 edition"). I don't buy it and come home annoyed. We order it on Amazon that night.

I search like crazy and can't find the receipt for the book I bought at Borders. The manager says I can exchange the book, but because I don't believe in paying for books, I don't want to buy anything. They won't give me my money back and I curse myself for losing the damn receipt. I turn the house upside down but can't find the receipt. Just then I realize I've been wanting to read A Thousand Splendid Sons by the author of the Kite Runner which I loved. So back I go to exchange--its $17.00, can you believe that--for a paperback. Yikes!

Anyway, I exchange, and get a gift card for $3.00 which is the difference between the SAT book and 1,000 Splendid Sons. I laugh because I had asked for a gift card to begin with, but they refused. I should have bought a $2.00 book and tried to get a gift card for the balance. But I guess it doesn't matter because I'm too cheap to buy a book since you can get it at the library for free. The gift card would have sat at the bottom of my dresser drawer for years, or better yet, probably been lost with the rest of my receipts.