What Part of "No" did you NOT understand?

I hate shopping, especially at the mall. There are way too many people around, and the sales people are extremely pushy. Well, the sales associate at Sears now gets to explain a $200 void to her manager.

See, my husband has made a lot of sacrifices over the past few years. Here is a man that was used to nice clothing, never shopped Wal Mart, etc. But then he comes out here and moves in, and suddenly it's all about the kids. As his clothes were getting rattier, and he had less and less to wear, I decided today to go and get him some clothes that looked nice and fit. And because he had quietly made all of those sacrifices the past few years, we were going to the mall instead of Wal Mart. (The clothes really do look much different!)

So we took the two hour drive to the mall and for the first three hours or so that we were there, I was fine. I don't do well in crowds, at all, but today it wasn't terribly crowded so it wasn't terribly bad.

Now, if there is one thing I hate more than crowds, it's pushy sales associates. They aren't there when you need them, but have to pedal their credit cards when you don't want them. Most of the stores were polite. They'd offer, I'd say no, they'd rebut, I'd say no again and that's the end of it.

In most every store, but one, a sales associate was always around, offering assistance whenever we seemed to need it. And believe me. My husband shops like a female. We needed assistance a LOT. JC Penney, Macy's, AE, even the associates at Dillard's during our extremely brief stay were very helpful.

Sears though...

First, nobody around to help us find anything. We spent three times as long in there as necessary, because of having to hunt and peck for what we wanted. No biggie. We found what we wanted, and a bit extra.

We finally head to the checkout counter. We wait as one associate is trying to check out a woman, and two others are just standing around. Finally, this person is checked out, and a different associate, (one of the standers) comes to the register to check us out. As we're checking out, she starts making her pitch.

"Would you like to apply for a Sears card today?"
No thanks.
"You'll save 15% off of today's purchase by applying, even if you aren't approved."
"No thanks, we don't use credit cards. Look, can we just get checked out please so that we can leave?"
"Sure! After a few more questions! (More questions??? WTF??? Since when do I need to be interrogated to make purchases??? Still biting tongue at this point.) You'll get a low fixed interest rate with the Sears card."
No, we tend to have issues with paying credit card debts so we don't use credit cards anymore.

Notice that I just told her if we got the card, they would not be paid back? And yet...

"Oh well, you can pay the balance right now!"

At this point, I lost it.

"What part of no did you NOT understand; the N, or the O?"
"Oh well, excuuuuuuuse ME!"
"Yes. Now, please, finish checking us through so we can leave."
"You don't need to talk to ME like that. I don't have to listen to this!" etc etc etc etc
"You're right. Bye."

I left everything there and started walking out. She voided the purchases, and my wonderful husband ran to catch up with me, made those pleading eyes of his, and asked me for my card. (Prepaid card, tyvm!) He went back to pay and somehow, it wound up being thirty dollars more. (So much for those sales prices.)

Okay, so maybe I'm a bit overly assertive, but how many times does a person need to say the word "No" in order to be taken seriously. Ask me once, I'll say no thank you. Ask me twice, I'll say no thanks, and tell you why. Ask me three times, and you're lucky I am still biting my tongue, but FOUR times????

Yeah. So we left there, and husband knew it was time to get me out of the mall. We rushed through getting him his shirts, and left quickly. If I get the chance to replace my own ratty clothes, I can tell yout his much. It won't be at Sears. Which really will be their loss because if I'm headed to the mall, it's to spend money and not small amounts of it.

Sales associates everywhere, No means NO!