To Williams-Sonoma: Get a watch, please.

Last week I went to Williams-Sonoma to purchase a wedding gift for my cousin. I picked out a lovely set of mixing bowls from the registry, then went to the counter to check out. The salesperson forgot to scan the registry, so she voided the purchase then did it all over again so that the registry would show that the bowls had been purchased.

But it did not work. A week later, the registry still showed that the mixing bowl set was available. Sigh. I hate dealing with stuff like this. It should just work the way it’s supposed to, you know?

So yesterday I called Williams-Sonoma and told them what happened, then made vague threats about how I could purchase my several-hundred-dollar Le Creuset Dutch Oven and my 49-dollar-but-everyone-knows-that-really-means-50-dollar Molcajete someplace else even if you did give me a delicious sample of mango-margarita-flavored cheesecake, thankyouverymuch. And, seeing as how it was 4:55pm, the store was closing and the person on the phone told me that the store was closing and she would make a note to call me in the morning between 9:00 and 9:45. (But not before asking for the bride’s name, which I gave her, even though it was quite difficult to pronounce and even harder to spell, and having phone lady sound all put out when I told her the groom’s name was Sam Jones.)

Even though I assume the store was closing at 5:00 and NOT 4:55 like phone lady would make you think, she refused to take three minutes to deal with this registry issue right then. She took my phone number and asked me three times (THREE TIMES!) if that number was one she could reach me on in the morning, between 9:00 and 9:45. I assured her THREE TIMES that yes, I was reachable on that number.

And then phone lady called at 10:15, asked me what the item was, and took care of the whole deal in less than 30 seconds. Why, why couldn’t this have been dealt with yesterday evening? I have such a love-hate relationship with you, Williams-Sonoma, with your overpriced-but-lovely kitchenware and your appealing visual merchandising.