My parents are in town, and my dad wants to grill out for supper.  The problem: we didn’t have a grill yet. BUT, we did see one for really cheap at Menard’s last weekend. $69.99.  Nothing fancy, no side burners, etc.  Just what we needed though since we rarely grill out and we haven’t built our deck yet.

Background of story: A friend of the family had just purchased the grill the last time we were home, and she said she paid $119.99 for it.  SO when I saw it for $69.99 I had to chuckle, and I took a picture with my iPhone and emailed it to my Mom.  I also took note that the sale ended 6/15, in case we wanted to come back and get the grill.

Today: We head to Menard’s, and get back to the grills to find it.  And we find it, marked $89.99. WHAT?! So I pull out my phone, and find the picture.  Sure enough, there it is for $69.99. My wife tracks down a worker, who happens to be the asst. manager of the store.  He tells us it WAS $69.99, but the registers were ringing it as $89.99 so they just changed the sign (rather than the register? hmm….). He says he will honor the price, but only because I have proof in the picture. SCORE

So we get to the register, and I tell the cashier that we were told that we could have it for $69.99.  She calls over a supervisor, who pages the asst. manager to confirm.  ENTER THE MANAGER FROM HELL. (This is at the Menards on 96th St. in Indianapolis, IN for anyone at corporate Menards).  He tells the supervisor over the radio that he absolutely will not sell the grill for $69.99.  So we ask to speak to him.  He comes over, determined.  Well, he’s never met the Ward family before.  I show him the picture. He stumbles words.  He says “If you would have bought the grill while the sign was on it, I would have honored the price.  The sale changed.”  I again tell him the sign said “Through 6/15″, he again says “the sale changed.” I tell him the Asst. Manager told us what happened with the price mistake, he says “Well he should have never told you that and he should have never honored that little picture without my approval.” I can just see this guy’s head swelling, either from anger or arrogance.    I ask for the district manager’s number, and he says “let me see what I can do.”  And he walks back up to his ivory tower behind the glass, and radios the supervisor to honor the price, not showing his face again.

SUPERBAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The iPhone saved me $20 today.  I think I’ll go buy 5 gallons of gas.

What did your iPhone do for you today? What could you have done with an iPhone?

Not only will I miss out on saving money like this for 26 days, I’ll also miss out on being able to take pictures and upload them to Flickr or email them to myself like this. Bummer.