The End of an Era?

My love affair with Target may officially be over.

Believe me. I never, ever thought I'd utter those words. Never.

Tonight we took the kids out to dinner with the plan that we'd run to Target together after we were done eating. I have a 3 day weekend, and over the course of it I will be gifting 5 separate people at 3 different parties and I needed to get my shop on big time. I waited until tonight since today is pay day, and I had a plan. A PLAN I say. I had a $50 gift card from Christmas, and since I had 5 gifts to buy and already had wrapping paper at home, I figured I could sneak out of there without having to come out of pocket much. Three of the five gift recipients are under the age of 5, so a simple gift was all I needed, and I knew the other two gifts could come fairly cheap if I shopped smart and not impulsively.

In addition to gifts, we needed diapers for Rohan, socks for both kids, and cards to accompany the gifts. I was thinking after my $50 gift card I'd only need to come up with about $25 out of pocket. I knew this was an optimistic plan, but I was determined to make it happen.

In the end, I bought only things on my list. I was surprised to find the gift card I thought was worth $50 was only worth $40, so I mentally prepared myself to come $35 out of pocket.

$66 later, we walked out in a bit of shock. We double-checked the receipt. We peered into the bags to see if something was there we hadn't remembered purchasing. We couldn't figure out where we'd gone wrong.

We determined that Target's anti-theft door screening machines must be automatically programmed to deduct $20 from each person's debit card as soon as you walk through the door. There is no other plausible answer.

I thought a night doing some 'fun' shopping at Target would feel good. I thought I would enjoy it and find myself trailing 8 paces behind my husband as he pushed the cart, running my hands over clearance clothes and magazines I don't really need and swooning over the new spring bags and the adorable toddler jeans. I imagined feeling a bit sad about not delving into Target and then feeling very proud of myself as I walked out under budget. I would be smug, even.

Instead, I walked out deflated and simultaneously vindicated. I am feeling a bit over the whole thing now, and more resigned than ever to stay the hell away.