On Saturday I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with my teenage son. I say it was a pleasure because when they reach thirteen hanging with mom is, quite frankly, so “NOT COOL”! However, when he and his small entourage of school buddies need a ride to the mall or something, I am popular again. And yes, I am part of the “IN” crowd when he needs money. So needless to say, I was like a kid in the candy store when he hopped in the SUV with me—“just because”. However, I should have known it would cost me.
After running a few errands, we stopped at the mall. During our travels, I remembered I had a Macy’s coupon that I wanted to use, and for those of you who are as frugal as I, we don’t let coupons expire. Anywho, I looked around for a few dresses, while he went to the young men’s department. After about an hour or so, I was ready to check out, so I called his cell phone and I relayed the message. I could feel his presence behind me after a few minutes, as I stood there holding up the line searching for the $25 off $100 coupon that was playing “hide and seek” in my handbag. Once the coupon finally surrendered, I was ready to check out.
(Mothers of teenagers, you know how sneaky they are at checkout). Because I had been so distracted looking for the coupon, I didn’t notice that my purchase had suddenly increased. So instead of my total price being $75 after coupon, it had suddenly grown to $115. Before I could even ask the cashier if there had been some sort of pricing mistake, I noticed the Ralph Lauren Polo baseball cap. Not wanting to hold up the line any further, I swiped my credit card to complete the purchase.
Once we left the counter I told my son that I didn’t remembered Ralph Lauren being a part of my stock portfolio, so why did he think it was ok to spend $40 on a hat? (Sidebar: what does someone with no job need a $40 hat for anyway, but I digress!) He had the audacity to tell me, as he looked at me with those beautiful brown enlightened eyes, “Mom, you should be proud of me, I chose the style that was on sale. The hat that I was going to get was $75!” (Blank stare) I mean, how do you even respond to that?
You have to love the innocence and—sense of entitlement—that young people have. End of day spending total: Lunch $20, Starbuck’s cost me another $11, the infamous R.L. Polo hat $40 (on sale), and spending time with my son, absolutely PRICELESS!
Happy Monday, Everybody!
