WIfe goes to Baton Rouge yesterday to take daughter back to LSU. I'm finishing up some paperwork so I don't go. I send her to Cabellas while she is there to buy a deep cycle battery and a charger with my gift card.
I print out a picture of the battery from thrie internet site as well as the charger. I circle the battery and charger. The battery is on sale for $40 off. I instruct her to buy exactly what I've circled, nothing else. Check the numbers-that if a number is off by even one DO NOT BUY. I quiz her-what if the salesman says "This is the same thing..what do you do?" She says don't buy. I say good girl and send her off. She doesn't bother to check the amount she should pay (which is on the printout with circled pictures in color that I gave her before I quizzed her on what she was supposed to do) she just gets the stuff and gives them the card. Oh well not her money why should she care?
This morning I find out that they charged her the regular price instead of the sales price to the tune of $40 extra.
She looks at me like I'm crazy when I get a little angry-" I just gave him the card-I didn't know"
Getting close to new wife time................
Sir, no offense, but you kinda set yourself up for that one.
When I was in college and still single, I worked in a hardware store. Every day, we'd get at least one wife sent by her hubby to get some object that she didn't know or care what it was. Then the ignorant and underpaid clerk (i.e., yours truly) had to divine what the hubby wanted based on little, no, or incorrect info from the wife. Many times this resulted in a return trip by the hubby himself.
The occasional smart hubby would send an example of the object with the wife, with the instructions, "I want one of these, only not goofed up like this one." Or in the case of fasteners, "I need [quantity] more of these." Made the whole thing much easier and more successful. (Admittedly, this would be hard to do with a battery.)
Sometimes Hubby would send Wifey to the store with a detailed note describing what Hubby wanted. Sometimes this worked well, other times not. For this method to be successful, the hubby must actually know what he wants and what it's called, and also have legible handwriting; it also requires knowledge and acuity on the part of the clerk. That's a fairly long chain of things that have to go right, and failure at any one point in the chain causes the entire exercise to fail. Thus, this is not a sure method.
There are a couple lessons here.
1. If you want some specific object, go get it yourself.
2. If you must send the wife to get said object, send an example of the object with her.
3. Sending a note with the wife is not a good method--it has five chances to fail, but only one to succeed.
Bottom line: Go get the thing yourself. It'll save you money and frustration, and also get you out of the house for a bit.
Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.
Ron H.
I'm kinda afraid about where she might decide to stick that battery if I re open the subject 
