You Say...

So I went into a business this afternoon to obtain and mother's day gift for my mom.  Since I have no clue what she wants/needs I was walking in with the intent to purchase a gift certificate so she could shop for whatever she wanted.  Easy, right?

So I walked in, went up to the counter and waited for service.  When asked "how can I help you?" I answered "I need a twenty-five dollar gift certificate."  The woman, we'll call her Betty, went to attend to my request.  From somewhere else within the business a woman says "You mean a gift card?"  My first thought was to wonder what concern it was of hers.  Betty looked confused.  I guess I should have said I entered this business expecting this to be an easy transaction and had little to no patience for stupidity as I had spent it all at work already.  I looked at Betty and said, "Seriously?  It's the same thing."  I believe Betty was in agreement because she was continuing to process my request.  The disembodied voice proceeded to explain the exact difference to me (one is a slip of paper, the other is a card.  The card is used like a credit card...).  I say to the voice, "It's the same thing, I'm quite happy to go elsewhere for a gift whatever if this is going to be a problem..."  Betty looks at me apologetically, finishes my request and I head out.  I don't understand what is wrong with people.  Betty knew what I was asking for.  It took every fiber of my being to not find the location of the voice and explain that talking to people like that is a HUGE turn off and if she doesn't care about how the business does then to continue on but if she does care to perhaps not make the customer feel stupid.  I don't think I'll be assisting that business any further after this mother's day.

Why can't things just be easy for once?

~Emily