Sunday, October 10, 2010

The Great Gift Card Debacle of 2009

This afternoon, Carrie and I are going to a wedding reception.  She reminded me to remember the gift cards earlier and it brought back memories of the last time we brought a gift card to a wedding.  Here's how it went down.

June 19th 2009:
Carrie and I were somewhere between Alton and Bloomsdale on 255, heading home after my brother's rehearsal dinner.  I said "Don't forget to bring the Melting Pot gift card tomorrow."
"I don't have it," she said.
"Didn't I give it to you so I wouldn't lose it?" I asked.
"I don't think so," she said.
"I'm sure I did.  Or I meant to.  Are you sure you don't have it?" I asked.
"Yes but I'll check when I get home."

I dropped Carrie off at her car and headed home, confident that the gift card was in her purse.

June 20th 2009:
I woke up extra early and started looking for the card.  I check all my usual hiding spots and came up empty.  Satisfied, I called Carrie.
"Did you find the card?" I asked.
"No and I tore my house apart," she said.
"Crap.  I guess it's lost.  I'll look again and if I can't find it, we'll stop somewhere and I'll buy another gift card of some type.  If we find the Melting Pot card later, we'll just go there ourselves."
"That sounds okay," Carrie said.

I hung up and resumed my search.  While I pretended to be taking the heat for losing the gift card, I was secretly convinced Carrie lost it.  Still, I ransacked my house.  I checked the file cabinet, the cabinets under the counter, even the pockets of jackets.  Nothing.  I manhandled the refrigerator out of it's nook and found nothing besides a dirty patch of floor and a frightening amount of dog hair. 

As I cursed and pushed the fridge back, I remembered putting the card on top of the refrigerator for safekeeping.  I looked on top of the fridge, even between the pages of the phone books that I never use.  Nothing. 

I stood in the kitchen staring at the fridge when an idea hit me.  I opened the freezer and looked in the small compartment inside the door.  There it was, staring back it me in its maroon envelope: the Melting Pot gift card!  It must have fallen off the top of the fridge and landed inside the freezer when I opened the door!

Ecstatic, I breathed a sigh of relief and went about getting ready for the wedding.

Aftermath:
The wedding went off without a hitch.  My best man speech, a Seinfeld-esque bit about the term groom, went over fairly well.  Carrie continues to bring up that she was right about the gift card to this day.  And my brother lost the gift card for a period of time after they moved.

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