Tears at the PX

Before I go into complaining mode here, I have to talk about some positives.

1) My husband should be leaving to come home for R&R in 3 weeks! YAY!! Can I just tell you that I'm SOOOOOO excited and SOOO nervous to see him! I just bought the dress that I am going to wear when I pick him up at the airport and I feel like a gazillion bucks in it. What a relief. Now if I could just find some sexy lingerie that makes me feel the same way ...

2) School starts Thursday and I am so looking forward to seeing my kiddos! I just got my class lists and I had the majority of the students last year also. I am so lucky! I have really enjoyed being back at work, visiting with coworkers and getting everything ready for my students. Let's just hope I'm not singing a different tune after two weeks!

Okay, time for a little complaining. I just finished reading Daily Dentes and I feel like she is reading my mind about "Life on the D-List." I pretty much feel like everyone around here is over the collective feelings of patriotism and pride that this community had at the start of OIF. It's like no one cares if your husband is in the military, or even deployed for that matter. The first deployment was SOOO different. The spouses and community really pulled together and made life for those left behind bearable. We had coffees once a month, with other get-togethers in-between. (I know some wives don't agree with the whole "Coffee" concept, but I'm not picky -- I'll take friendship and support wherever I can get it.) There were tons of great activities planned on post. The Army and Fort Carson really made us spouses feel like we were part of something important -- that our roles as spouses left behind were vital to the success of our soldiers and our way of serving our country. I feel completely different now. Maybe that's why I've been feeling so bitter about this deployment and the Army in general.

On Saturday, I went to the PX to return an External Hard Drive. Since my husband was moving from one FOB to another, he wanted to save the information he had been working with, and so asked me to send him one. I bought it for about $120 at the PX and sent it in June. When Jon got it, he noticed that it had already been used before and had someone else's information already downloaded onto it. He mailed it back to me while I was in Michigan. So I really didn't think it was going to be a problem to return it. I mean, the worst they could do was give me store credit, right? I had the receipt and everything.

Boy, was I wrong. Turns out, the PX has a 15 day return policy on all computer hardware and software. Completely understandable. However, I asked to talk to the manager. I explained to her that there was no way I could have returned the item in 15 days because I sent it to my husband, who was deployed in Iraq. Plus, it was already used by someone else, and I felt like they had sold me a DEFECTIVE product. At first, she acted like she really didn't care and that there was nothing she could do. I continued to plead my case, getting very frustrated at her lack of understanding or even compassion. Then she started acting like my attempt at returning the item was suspicious. I couldn't help it -- the tears just came. You know when you are trying so hard not to cry and they just come anyways, and they won't stop? That was what happened! I was so angry and embarrassed. I thought that if any store would understand this situation, it would be the PX! Plus, I was wondering what I was going to do with a $120 hard drive that didn't even work right. After I started crying, she got a little flustered and decided to give me a store credit. As soon as I got the receipt, I walked out to my car and just sat there and sobbed.

I was so angry that I even had to go through that. I was so frustrated that my husband has been gone for so long and nobody even CARES around here! I was so OVER the Army. I kind of still am ...