Legacy: Utter Humiliation

Background: the first weekend in September, I went furniture shopping with a friend at a pricey local furniture store. As I waited for her to make her purchases, I reclined in the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in, with my feet up on the matching ottoman. When my friend wandered back my way, I asked her salesman about the chair and discovered that it's a specialty chair manufactured by Ekornes for people with back issues, very expensive, and fit quite nicely into the back of my truck, as well as my living room.

Update: Yesterday, I contacted the salesman and asked whether the attachable wooden tray that comes with the recliner, but was out of stock during my purchase visit, was available. He said that it was, so I asked him at which location. He told me the "high end" main store location. I confirmed with him that I would be able to pick the tray up today if I drove to that location, and he assured me that the item was there.

Today: I drove to the main store, then had to seek out a sales person to query re: where do I find out about the table because those on the floor simply ignored me, walking right past me as if I weren't there. When I found the business office and provided my contact information, the counter person said she had "no record" of the transaction. She asked who my salesperson was, and I told her John, whom she paged.

When John arrived at the business office, I explained to him that I was there to pick up the table, to which he replied, "Didn't you get my message?"

I responded, "What message? I called you yesterday to confirm that I could pick up the table today at this location."

"Oh," he said, "I called you back within 20 minutes and left a message that you would have to go to our other location. You didn't get it?"

[Now, a smarter person would realize that a customer would not drive a round trip of 30 miles out of the way to pick up an item if they had received a message telling them the item was not at the location.]

"No," I assured him, "I didn't get your message."

"That's funny because I left you one. You have a woman's voice on your machine."

"No, I don't. I have a man's voice on my machine."

"Are you sure?" he asked, as he literally walked over to the phone, in front of me and 2 other sales associates, asked me for my phone number, which he then dialed to prove to me that I was wrong! I stood rooted to the floor, unable to process that he was actually dialing my home phone because he thought I was not telling the truth.

Why would I lie about receiving a message telling me the item was not at this site? Why would I lie about there being a male voice on my answering machine? Why would I drive all the way to the store to pick up an item if I knew it would not be there?

"Oh," he explained to the group of us, "it's one of those mechanical voices," as if that justified his actions and confirmed that I had lied!

I was so totally mortified that I stood rooted to the spot and could not think of anything to say that would be appropriate or would not involve my bursting into tears over being so totally embarrassed by his actions.

He did say, "Sorry," but then added that if I wanted the table, I'd have to drive back the way I had just come to another store in another city to pick it up.

I had already begun leaving the store as he was speaking, so I got into my car and sat there -- shaking from head to toe. After I composed myself, I left the parking lot and headed back to the other location to pick up the item.

The rest of the story: When I arrived at the warehouse to pick up the item, there were a bunch of guys working. Three of them took a huge transporter into the belly of the warehouse to go find the tiny table, and when they returned, one of them said to me, "Go get your car and back it up to the loading dock."

I was still in shock from the rudeness of the man at the other location and just stood there. He looked at me and said, "It was just a joke. We were just funning with you," and handed me the 12" square package.

I told him I was not amused, got into my car, and drove home. Forget the movie: I just wanted to curl up in a little ball and rage at the world.

Yeah, I know: get over it. I will, just not right now.

Update: I did call John after I calmed down. I told him how humiliated I felt by his actions and, rather than apologizing, he defended his need to know whether he had called the wrong number! He asked me if I "found" his message, and I again told him no -- and that accusing me of lying about it would not change that fact. He was shocked that I thought that's what he was doing. I told him that the next time someone says they did not get his message, he could probably just say "I'm sorry that you had to make this trip," rather than try to prove that he had left a message, which implies that the customer is lying.

He didn't get it; I'm probably too sensitive; life goes on.