Saturday, April 5, 2008

New Scrapbooking Store Found

Yahoo! I have located a new scrapbooking store in Champaign! It is located in the tiny strip mall where Pickles used to be. (Pickles is now Papa George's Greek & American Restaurant.)

Anyhow....the name of the store is Blessed 2 Scrapbook and I love it there because they have the really "good" selection of items, which Hobby Lobby, Michaels or Prairie Gardens do not carry.

I ran in this afternoon to grab a couple of items before heading home. There was one woman running the register and two other women (plus myself) were shopping.

Enter...a man. A man, with a slight English (?) accent. This man is wondering around the entire store as quickly as he can. I was minding my own business looking at some paper, and then he zoomed by me and ran into me. I said, "Oh, excuse me." Why did I say that? HE ran into ME! Oh well. At least he was heading away from me.

He goes up to the woman at the register and asks her is she has any paper he can use as wrapping paper. She tells him, "No, we do not have paper that large." The man continues to tell her how impressed he is with the store and that he just "loves it." I spend a lot of time in scrapbooking stores, and I rarely see men. And if they are there, they are with their wife, or shopping for a gift...for their wife. They never know what to get and they never compliment the store, as they likely see it all as a big waste of time and money.

The man in the store then argues with the woman at the register and says, "I don't think you understand my question....I am looking for paper that I can wrap up a gift with." The woman kindly tells him that all of the paper is the same size (12 x 12 inches), but they are different thicknesses and he will need to feel which one he wants to use to wrap with.

Again, the man
says, "I don't think you understand my question....I am looking for paper that I can wrap up a gift with." So the woman goes over to the closest rack of paper, picks two sheets up and hands them to him saying..."the paper comes in different weights and textures. You need to feel them to see which one will work for you."

"Ohhh!" says the man. Ding, ding, ding! The light bulb is on. "Well then, I will take this piece right here." The woman rings him up and tells him his total is $1.07. "No, no," says the man, it says that paper is 99 cents. How can my total be $1.07?"

"The paper is 99 cents, Sir, but there is sales tax that brings your total up to $1.07."

"Well, I cannot buy this then. Why is tax different? Do you know? Some places it is $1.02, but here it is $1.07? That is crazy. I know it isn't your fault, but I am just wondering."

"Well Sir, different items have different taxes on them, and sometimes there is more than one tax."

"Well, here's the dollar."

"I am sorry Sir, your total is $1.07"

"Well, I've got three pennies. Can you take that?"

"No sir, I do not own this store. Your total is $1.07"

He begins to leave without the paper, but then turns around and gives her a dime.

"Thank you, Sir."

And he leaves. With the paper, but not with his change of 3 cents.


Who does this guy think he is? You cannot walk into a store and bargain for the price. It isn't a garage sale! And where is he from that he does not understand how taxes work?

Aside from the crazy man, stopping off at this new scrapbook store was quite successful for me. Time to go and be creative with my new products! =)

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Health Insurance...Is it worth it?

I went to the doctor last week for a routine visit. His bill arrived in the mail today. It was for $110. I was surprised. Not at the total cost, but that in the past while having health insurance through FS, the same visit was $125...and that was my "co-pay."

As of now, I have no health insurance. (I have a new job, and that particular benefit will begin in two days.) So with no health insurance, I pay $110 --- which is $15 less than I paid in the past.

Hmmm...while I worked at FS, I paid a ridiculous amount of money for "health insurance" coverage each pay period. Then on top of that, I paid $125 for a regular visit...which was supposed to be a "partial" payment.

I have no monthly insurance costs, and on top of that, it is CHEAPER to pay the doctor bill outright?!?

Why have health insurance then? Oh yes, I know...in case something serious happens so that you do not have a huge bill. Would the bill be that large, because in this case, is sure wasn't! And the same has happened with medicine! The pharmacist I went to would run the out-of-pocket or "cash" price of the medicine. If it was cheaper than my co-pay, I would pay for it in cash.

So in what other ways do health insurance providers scam the consumer to make a profit? I think I will be writing them a letter!

Thank you for ripping me off, Health Alliance....you dirty rat.