Is It Karma Paying it Forward, or Will Karma Get Me For It Later?!? A Moral Dilemma!

In today's post I am going to first present a moral dilemma, then I'm going to say (yet another) thank you which requires me to reveal ten things about myself (and the last thing is a doozy). So read on in whatever order befits your mood....

So, I tried to return some stuff at Nameless Big Box store this morning.... Here's the set up: I went Christmas and clothes shopping last Wednesday and spent waaaaay too much. Like, oh, ....I hate to say, but it is relevant to the story.... alright, fine, I spent $500. I know! I was totally taken aback by the amount and was feeling guilty about it and then decided that the Animal didn't really need all those pairs of pants and then double checked the Santa wish lists and realized that I got the wrong Wii game, so I decided to bring some things back. But I couldn't find my receipt! Not anywhere!! Which is only weird because I always save receipts that have to do with Christmas presents and when I spend a cringe-inducing amount. If you are returning stuff at this particular store and have the credit card you bought it with, though, it shouldn't make a difference whether you have a receipt or not. Well, not one item I was trying to return was on the card. Nothing. So they're like, "Well nothing is showing up on your card. Let me call the manager." And she walks off to explain what is going on to the manager. The manager then comes back over and says, "Well, it appears that your transaction was voided somehow. So you basically walked out of the store with $500 worth of stuff the other day." I'm like, "Wow. So what do you want me to do?" And then, all nonchalant-like he says, "If you could contact your bank and find out if they charged you or credited the money back to your account, would you mind giving me a call to let me know?" A bit perplexed, I was like, "Okay.... Do you have a business card with your number? And don't you want my number or some ....information? " And then he basically dismisses me by saying, "No, just call if you can." And the cashier pipes is, "Gee, sorry for all the confusion!"

??!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?

So, is it just me, or does it seem like the whole situation is maybe too much of a pain for the store management to deal with, so he just dismissed the money as lost? I mean he didn't even write down my information! What's that all about?

I am thinking that I am just going to do nothing and if the charge eventually shows up on my card, I will be happy with it, and if it doesn't, well,.... Can I look at this as karma getting my back for all the nice things I've done before??? I resolved to pay it forward and bought the person's coffee in the car behind me at Starbucks today. I've got plans for more random acts of kindness to spread throughout the city. And ideas you'd like to share??

Now, for the Thank You! to Temple, the lovely and talented mistress of Cookies Mean God Loves You. She has tagged me with a meme (someone, please, ANYONE, tell me the origins of "meme" and what it means!) that requires that I share 10 things about myself that are honest and random, which, quite honestly, is how I present most information about myself, so it will be easy:

1. I hate taking baths, but I love sitting in a hot tub with bubbles and jets.
2. I would eat cake at every meal if it didn't equal a giant muffin-top above my pants' waistline.
3. On that note, I lost 35 pounds on Weight Watchers after my second child was born. I've been thinner the last five years than I have been at any other point in my adult life.
4. I feel like it is my duty and privilege to volunteer my time and resources to the community and world.
5. Sometimes I stay up late to watch four hours of TiVo'd shows in one sitting.
6. I am happy to not leave the house all day.
7. I think I'm way smarter and funnier than I actually am.
8. I truly believe that if I met George Clooney he would fall madly in love with me and insist I run away with him to his villa on Lake Como in Italy. No, seriously, he really would!
9. I LOVE being alone, but hate feeling lonely.
and this is the big one....
10. My husband just got accepted (today!) to a Boat Design & Engineering program in England and we will all be moving there next summer.

Watch out, Southampton, UK: The Bitchin' Family is about to descend on your fair isle and I'm guessing we're going to fall more into the "hooligan" class than the "ruling" class....