In case you were wondering

Mackenzie's headstone did NOT come in today as promised. Go figure. I tried to call the funeral home at 4:30 PM and the receptionist said our lady (the person assigned to deal with us...whatever she's called) had already left for the day. Really? Without even calling to tell me one way or the other? How professional. I looked through my paperwork from the funeral and stuff and found the business card of the funeral home's general manager. I started typing up a really long complaint, but was interrupted when my parents came to visit. I plan to finish that up at work tomorrow and send it first thing in the morning. I'm wondering if it didn't come in or if it came in and was wrong again and she was just too afraid to call and tell me. If I have to, I'll take my lunch break and drive over to the funeral home and make a scene. I never thought I'd be considering getting crazy inside a funeral home, but then again I never thought I'd bury my first born child either. If I don't post for a while...maybe I got arrested...haha.

(This next rant is for my benefit...I just have to vent...don't feel obligated to read it...it may not even make sense unless you are me...besides it's going to be really long)

Oh, and the shirts I had made for the walk...they were ready to be picked up today. When I looked at them I noticed that on the back where I had asked for them to write "Mackenzie's Mommy" (and Daddy, Grandpa, Uncle, etc) the fonts were two different sizes. "Mackenzie's" was 2 inches and "Mommy" was like 1.5 inches. "Mackenzie's" is one line on top, and "Mommy" is another line right under neath that. It wasn't a huge deal, but obviously it was enough that I noticed so I asked the guy what happened. After all, I did pay an extra $4 a shirt for them to put these names on the back. He told me they were trying to fit the names above the picture of the ladybug in the center. I told him that's fine, I understand that, but if one line had to be made smaller to fit...why not make both lines smaller rather than one small and one large? Instead of acknowledging the oversight, he starts arguing with me and saying that he made it exactly how I asked for it. Really? I asked for him to make two lines of print two different sizes? I don't think so. I pointed out to him that the couple of days before when my husband and I were in there he specifically told us the letters on the back HAD to be 2 inches because that was standard and they didn't offer any other sizes (or fonts). So how did I end up with non-standard lettering? He keeps arguing that what he showed me on the computer was exactly how he did it. How was I supposed to know he had them input as different font sizes by looking at the proof on his laptop screen? And in any case, the letters were not screen printed, they were done by hand...so the size was not generated from the computer. I guess he thought I was stupid. I told him that they weren't horrible or anything, but I just don't understand why it came out that way. I wasn't even getting rude with him...I was stating a fact and simply hoping he would acknowledge the error or oversight or whatever you want to call it. Instead, he starts in on me saying he spent a lot more time and effort on my order than he normally would and that my order was small and he normally wouldn't spend so much time and I was making so many changes to the order that he couldn't keep up and that it was confusing and on and on. So I started to get pissed off because this place is a hole in the wall with no air-conditioning, he took my order on a piece of scrap paper he had laying around. If it was confusing...maybe he should have kept his records in a little more professional manner. I really don't think he spent a whole lot of time on my order and in any case he acted like I was a bother every time I was in there...like he was annoyed with me. I let it slide because I was paying good money for this and however I wanted the shirts to come out was how they needed to come out. As for all the changes he said I made, the first time I came in there he just told me to write down what I wanted it to say and they would just come up with something and send me a proof. He said if I didn't like it, all I had to do was tell them what to change. He also told me their website showed a list of fonts to choose from and that I should go check it out to see what I wanted. So after I saw the proof, I stopped by and  asked him to change the fonts and the font colors. It's not even like it was a lot of print...all it says is "In Loving Memory...Mackenzie Noelle Frederickson...June 17, 2009." And the proof was on the computer so we all know how simple it is to change fonts/colors on a computer. At this point I realized this guy was just being a stubborn ass and didn't want to admit he might have goofed up. So I told him that I didn't think I'd made many changes and the changes I did make were a quick fix. I told him that I didn't think he'd spent any excess time on my order but that if he had felt like he needed to charge me extra for his so called extra efforts that he should have done so instead of acting like I was a charity case. I told him money was no issue, that I walked in there with the intention of paying whatever it may cost as long as I got what I wanted. Then he told me that he had felt sorry for me given the circumstances and that's why he took my order and that he wasn't doing it to make money off of me. The hell he wasn't!! He was charging me about $25 a shirt PLUS $4 extra if I wanted names on the back. I told him that I didn't come in there looking for a handout...he told me the price and I said ok. I told him that we have friends that own a screen printing and embroidery shop and that they were willing to do it for free but that I didn't want any charity so I brought my business here. Then he grabs the box of shirts like he's going to take them back and not let me have them and tells me that I should just go get it done free then. I told him I'd be happy to except it's Wednesday and we need these for an event on Saturday so that's not possible anymore. I told him to just give me the fucking shirts and I'd pay for them and that I would never do business there again and neither would the rest of the people I knew in the area. Then he tells me that he can fix them, but they won't be ready until next week. Next week you idiot!? The event is this Saturday. Stop being retarded. So then he just keeps saying "well what do you want me to do?" I told him that obviously there is nothing he can do to fix it, but that maybe he should just not charge me the extra $4 per shirt for the lettering. So he asks me if I want him to take the lettering off the shirts...and I'm like, rip the letters off the back? and he says yes and of course I say no because it will look tacky and obvious that the letters were ripped off so he says "if you don't want me to take the letters off then why don't you want to pay for them?" Seriously??? I don't want to pay for them because they're not right. Duh! So I tell him just forget it...let me just pay for them and leave because I'm about to lose it. And then he tells me that I should be happy that he did me a favor and got the shirts ready early since he quoted me Friday. I told him that I didn't ask for them to be done early and that Friday was just fine and that he needs to shut up with that shit about doing me all these favors...I AM PAYING YOU...it's not a favor...it's your job...the service I am PAYING for. Stupid!! Then he goes on to say that I should be happy that he's charging me less per shirt than he originally quoted me. I'm seriously about to explode now because he's so full of shit. Their minimum order is 6 but the larger your order is, the smaller the price per shirt. When I first went in there and asked how much it would be for 6 shirts he said about $28 per shirt, but that if I wanted more, like12 shirts, it would be about $18 per shirt. My original order was 6 but then more people wanted shirts so my order increased to 13. I'm furious that he's acting like he's doing this as a special for me and I told him that he's insane because that's what he quoted me originally and he tells me that I'm wrong and that he never said that. So I tell him to just get behind the counter and let me pay for this because I am done arguing with him and that I'm ready to leave. He goes in the back for a minute and comes back saying he will re-do the shirts with the names on the back and that they will be ready on Friday. By this time, I told him no...no way in hell...because he acted like he didn't want to give me the shirts at all once I told him someone else could have done it for less so I'm not about to leave without the shirts and then have them not be ready by Saturday. I couldn't trust him at this point...he's obviously a liar and has zero customer service skills. I told him to forget about it and to just let me pay and that it wasn't this big of a deal in the first place but that I'm not about to stand around and let somebody treat me like I'm an idiot and worst of all like I needed a handout. He didn't even know the situation...as far as he knows...a baby died on June 17, 2009. I'm assuming he figured out that it was my baby, but beyond that he has no clue. I just wanted to scream in his face "I delivered a 9.5 lb dead baby not even 4 months ago...don't fuck with me!!" So finally I just paid for the shirts and left. Once I post pics of the shirts you'll all probably think this was all over nothing, but honestly it was the fact of the matter. If he would have just said "I'm sorry...I'm not sure why that happened" I would have just said whatever and let it be. But I'm not about to let some arrogant man argue with me when I'm clearly right and try to manipulate the situation until I feel like I don't deserve what I paid for. Hell no!