my love/hate relationship with Target...

we used to make weekly trips to our "new" Target...well, it was new 2 or 3 years ago... :) this wasn't a great thing for us since it's hard to go to Target without spending $100 on any given trip... i'm proud to say that we don't visit Target as often, but we love to shop there a few times a month...

now, in the last few trips i've made to Target, i've been disappointed... our Target isn't a Greatlands store (with a whole grocery section), but it does have a pretty decent selection of groceries that are actually cheaper than surrounding grocery stores...

we've had trouble getting yogurt that wasn't expired... one time, the yogurt remained in the refridgerator for almost a month past its "use by" date... disgusting... i even told someone that it was expired on my second trip seeing it...and on a return trip, it was STILL in the case...
by mistakenly buying this expired yogurt (only once, thankfully), i've learned to check the dates (usually i remember! :)) on ALL of my products, especially those that are more perishable...

today, i almost bought yogurt for K that had a "sell by" date of Sept. 6th... every single pack of YoToddler was dated for Monday...

last week, i bought milk for Ry that was to be used within 2 or 3 days, according to the date... i didn't pay attention the date (oops)... and Ryan informed me of a "thick" white substance, which looked like cream, all around the top of the spout... ew... who would want to drink that?!

we like buying diapers at Target because we can use both manufactures coupons AND store coupons...more money off... and, this week, they have boxes of Pampers Baby Dry (our favorite and only diaper for K), for $19.96... with our coupons, that's a pretty good deal! :) we headed there today...
when we got to the diaper section, it appeared that a tornado had been through the aisle... boxes were scattered here and there... there weren't any diapers in K's size... not one blessed box... and, don't you know, it was nicely printed on the sale tag that they were not offering any rainchecks...
doesn't that figure?!

and we'll forget about their "policy" about not letting you return more than 2 items in a year if you don't have a receipt... there were so many baby gifts we got when K was about to arrive that were repeats... what were we supposed to do with those things without a gift receipt? i mean, really... a kid can only have a few Pooh hooded towels, right?!

and how about only accepting TWO gift cards for purchases...and you're responsible for paying the remaining amount? we thought about buying a top of the line car seat from Target with some of our gift cards...as with most gift cards, they are usually $25 to $50... with that policy, however, it was cheaper to buy our car seat elsewhere...

it's the little things that count when you're the consumer, isn't it? and, i guess, honestly, Target will not suffer from our lack of patronage... they're a loved store, nationally, without a doubt... but, i'm afraid that the manager at our Target here needs to be reminded about restocking shelves and making areas look presentable...about employees making sure food products are not a month past their expiration... ya know...all we really want is good customer service....