Have you ever heard the old saying “that was enough to make a preacher cuss!!”? My mom used to say that when we were younger…and I’m assuming she was substituting this phrase for what she really wanted to say. Which was curse words…but I digress. I finally experienced this first hand in my life on Monday. I’ve been angry before. Trust me. I’m no stranger to anger. But I’ve never been so angry that I didn’t care who was listening (Sarah was with me on this day), what their feelings were, or what other people thought (the greeter at WalMart is probably still traumatized).
You might recall that we had family pictures made a few weeks ago. On two separate occasions, because the first attempt just didn’t work out for us. I requested a different photographer for the second session, in the hopes that she/he would relate to Jonah a bit better than the first one. I was upset to find that we had the same photographer…but in her defense, she did a much better job. And I was much more articulate about what she could do/say to help Jonah understand what she wanted him to do. So, I was pleased with our family pictures. And thrilled beyond words with the shot that she ended up getting of the four kids together. It was darn near perfect…and I was happy! And spent more money than I had planned, but this pose of the kids was too good to pass up. I have been patiently waiting for our portraits to arrive, and on Monday, trotted into Wal-Mart to pick them up.
For some reason known only to the lab technicians, some of our pictures are…off. The shot itself is perfect. But when they started sizing them, somehow the shot got off center. In one size of picture, Larry is missing about 1/4 of his face, and Levi is missing an ear. Hmm….I’m getting a bit upset, especially when I ask to have them re-printed and the photographers response is…less than helpful. I really lost it when I got to the pictures of the kids…the pictures that I love, and that for once, are good of ALL four of them. Some of them turned out OK. Some of them have Sarah missing about 1/3 of her head….grrr…. I’m not happy at this point, and steam is probably starting to wisp out of my ears. If I’m not careful, I’ll start whistling like a tea kettle. Wouldn’t that be embarrasing?
So, I took a deep breath, and requested a refund, since the photographer is certain that the lab CAN’T re-print the pictures for me. I don’t even understand what she was thinking. Of course they could reprint them… the original picture is fine. That’s what she couldn’t grasp…She thought we needed to retake the picture. Which is not what I wanted. After she made a quick phone call to her supervisor, she was instructed to give me a refund. I was still upset at this point…yes, I was going to get my money back, but I still had no pictures…. The photographer didn’t have enough money in her drawer to refund my purchase….so her answer to the dilemma was to keep my money, keep my pictures (even the good ones) and send me out of the store empty handed. With instructions to call the 1-800 complaint number. I’m fairly certain that my head did a full rotation, and that steam was definitely escaping from my ears at this point. Suffice it to say that I left there with my pictures…and a shaken Sarah. Not really, Sarah was as upset as I was…
Anyway, I’ve spent some time feeling guilty about my anger, and the fact that I wasn’t very nice to this woman photographer. But you know what… she wasn’t nice to me either. And she was incompetent at doing her job. I understand that you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to take kid’s pictures all day long…but you’ve got to have some intellect. Right? And I’ve decided that my anger and words were justified. And I’m tired of feeling guilty about standing up for myself. Or my family. Or my child… So many times women are made to feel…hysterical and emotional. When in reality they are just standing up for themselves, their families….and I’m not going to feel guilty anymore. Wow. This may take some getting used to…
