Well Here it goes....

It's official, I am now a blogger.  We will see how this turns out.  It's going to take me a while to figure all this out, and of course as I learn more my style, layout, and structure of topics and posts will evolve.  But one this is for sure.  I got lots to talk about LOL.

So, I wouldn't say I am hanging on to it, and it did happen last weekend and here I am sharing it a week later, but I do have to take some time to share a ridiculous experience I had a Wal-mart.  It's almost as if they are too big for themselves.... Last weekend I figured out what my apartment was missing (see here comes another thing to blog about, how I sold my house late last year, moved, and I am in between deciding if I want to buy another house in the area I am living now, or stay in an apartment for a while until I figure out where I want to be). Ok I am back, Wal-mart...so yea I decided I needed a small little propane BBQ for my balcony at my apartment.  I am an avid BBQ-er and when I lived in my house I BBQ-ed with my trusty Weber Charcoal grill.  Well you can't have a charcoal grill where I am living now. In fact most apartments will not let you have either a charcoal or propane grill. NO OPEN FLAMES PEOPLE!

Well the apartments I am at it's ok to have a propane grill.  I guess since they are newer and they were built with indoor fire sprinklers in the ceilings and built to code,  that would allow propane only grills to be acceptable on the balconies.  Anyways I am really dragging this story out aren't I??  I found the perfect propane grill, it was a Weber Q100 and just had awesome reviews on Amazon and the likes.  So I looked at the websites of retailers in my area who would have one for sale.  Of course I had Lowes, Home Depot, Target,  and Wal-mart, all to choose from.  Looking on these websites Wal-mart had it $10 cheaper than everyone else.  So I figured I would go there.  Hey $10 is $10, and the way I looked at it that $10 savings would buy me my first steak to grill.  So if I went to Wal-mart it would be $10 cheaper than everyone else and I can have my first steak off my new grill for essentially "free".

So off to Wal-mart.... and if you follow my Facebook, you would see my post last Saturday when I walked into the store.  Holy freak it was gigantic inside.  Anyways... the going rate on this BBQ is $149 everywhere. And should that have been the case in all actuality, that it was $149 everywhere, well I wouldn't be blogging about this right now. Surprise... Wal-mart had it on its website as in stock at my nearby store and for only $139.   The state of Oregon is not fond of Wal-marts, so my "local" Wal-mart is a couple of towns away lol.

Once I got there I saw it was marked $149 like everyone else. Oh no they didn't!  I asked a clerk for some help to figure this out and she said that its probably the online price and she will check.  She also mentioned that prices on their website are often cheaper than in the store, but for free you can order online wait 7-10 days, while its shipped to the store then go pick it up.  So we looked online right there at her register to try and figure this out.

Yup, $139 on the website.  So she says that I seem really determined to have that $10 savings.  Well you betcha.  All though I love my job I don't go to work because I have nothing else to do.

She starts to order me one, saying that they will call me when it shows up blah blah blah.  All the time I am at here register out in the garden area I look over to 4 of these BBQ's ready to take home not even 25 feet away. I ask about her matching the online order price so I can take one home tonight.  She states that she can't do that.  That would require a manager approval.  The look on her face was astonishment.  Like not only manager approval, but the moons would have to be in perfect alignment also.

Yes, I am going to see if I can do this.  So I say sure let's ask a manager.  One shows up not too much longer and he hears the story.  Shaking his head no throughout the 2nd half of it.  At this point it was kind of cool, the clerk starts to be an advocate for my idea, just give me one of those 4 bbq's sitting over there for $139.  Well this doesn't fly with the manager. Nope.  So the clerk speaks up and asks her manager, what if he (being me) orders one online to be shipped to our store, but takes one home tonight at that price.  No No No, this is too confusing for the manager to follow along, because I will have already received the BBQ and when Wal-mart calls me to come get the one that was ordered, I wont come get it....he says.  Ah easy solution I offer...when you call me I will say never mind and you can then know to put it on the sales floor.

Most people probably would not go as far as I did with this situation.  I mean up top this point, its been more than a few minutes in the store figuring this out.  Something about me though, my stubbornness I guess, makes me insist on things like this.  Now don't think I am rude or bossy or pushy about it, I am not.  Most people though would have already either ordered one online and left to the store or said "oh well" and forked over $10 more and picked one up from the store.

So I ask mister manager man if he is ok with me walking out of the store, buying nothing, because the online price would not be matched in the store.  He said yes!

So I went across the street to Home Depot, gave them my $149, and took the BBQ  home.  It's the principle is it not?

No savings that night but hands down the absolute best gas grill ever.  I have used it 3 times in a week and recommend anyone looking for a grill, whether new or replacement to grab the Weber Q series.  I got the 100 and its more than big enough to cook for 4. Go to Picasa, I posted a picture of some pork chops I bbq'd Friday night.

http://www.amazon.com/Weber-386002-Portable-Propane-Grill/dp/B000WOTUCI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303064485&sr=8-1

In the end I could of just ordered it off of Amazon for $133  (but the shipping!)