My Momma didn't raise no fools!

I used to make granola and the kids would have it as cereal and it would last about 3 days if we weren't having midnight snacks. Anyhow, I found some in the Organic Section at one of the supermarkets and bought a box and my family fell in love with it. After eating this for about a month, I went to get some for a snack and what came out in my bowl along with it? A baby moth! Yes ,a moth! Was I grossed? yes. Did I loose my appetite ? Yes Did I use my common sense? Absolutely. I was fortunate to have a mother who allowed her children to see what you do in a situation when a product you get is defective. If you are at a clothing store and an item you want is stained ask management for a price reduction, the worse he/she could do is say no. I was fortunate enough to have a mother who took her children to the courtesy booth and ask for rain checks, refunds and process returns. There were times when we went food shopping and if a product on the shelf was sold out and was on sale, she would tell us to go the courtesy booth and get a rain check. Do you think I wanted to go to the courtesy booth by myself? But doing it engraved something in my brain as a child, "If its not right, send it back, you're paying money for this". Armed with all of this knowledge, what did I do? I got on the horn and called the manufacturer to no avail and while I was on hold for longer than I cared to be, I simply went online to their website and filled out a customer dissatisfaction complaint form and included my phone number and address. Within 24 hours I got a call from the company on my voice mail and they apologized and said that they are working on it right away and would send me some coupons for free product. In the meantime I took the box of cereal back to the store where I bought it-without my receipt. No one gave me a hard time they just apologized 10 times over and looked at my four children and probably wondered who got the moth in their bowl not knowing that it was me, Big Momma. They scanned the bar code and gave be back my $5plus dollars-which I think is ridiculous for a box of cereal in the first place and I happily walked out of the store. Much to my surprise when I checked the mail, The manufacturer of the cereal sent me $15.00 worth of coupons for free cereal! I ended up with $20 for a box of cereal that cost me a little over $5. And in the midst of all this I found the same kind of cereal at Walmart for $2.79.

Mommas, do your kids a huge service and explain to your babies what your doing at customer service. It is so easy to try to distract them with toys, juice and cheerios so that you're not interrupted and so that you can just "get your money back" and go. Let them see you handle your business diplomatically with poise and grace even if you are disgusted by the whole event. They will soon see and believe that they too can handle transactions with confidence. Trust me these lessons will transfer well into adulthood.