Karma...and The Black Hole

I grew up for the most part in one house my Uncle built for us that featured lovely hardwood floors. I have always thought that's as good as it gets, but have only lived in one other home (of nearly 30) with beautiful wood floors since growing up. So you can imagine how jazzed I am about the amazing hardwood floors Jared is installing for me; so much so that I was wondering out loud about "Luck" being involved in this. I confessed to my daughter that I was a tad curious about Karma being in cahoots with Lowe's.

Let me explain. Last spring Jared replaced the carpet in the Casita that Smokey, his docile pit bull, destroyed. It turned out that there was some leftover packs of this new laminate wood floor that he or Jordan promised me for months they'd return. Eventually he told me to sell it for 5 bucks at a garage sale or just toss it in the trash and save him a trip. Time passed, and I became more and more anxious to clean out the garage, so one day I loaded up the trunk of my car and hauled the surplus back to Lowe's myself.

The thing was I had no receipt, and this stymied the customer service girl to no end. She made calls and computer inquiries and finally, after an inordinate amount of time, presented me with a check for over $1200. I almost couldn't speak. It may as well have been $12,000,000! No way the entire floor could have cost that much! So rather than run straight to the bank, I argued. Apparently she had gone through the motions and spent such a long time handling the matter, that the last thing she wanted to do was start over. But we were both determined, aka stubborn, so eventually she had to call the big guns in and a couple managers showed up, irate with me for causing a problem. They buzzed around and fiddled around online and made more phone calls,  Finally 45 minutes later an executive decision was made, and I was handed a refund of around $120, with a large side of disdain.  Customer service, such as it is. 

When I shared this story, and my incidental exasperation, with one of my daughters, I won't share her name but it starts with "W", her reaction was utter disgust... with me!  Stupid old lady--- was her take. I seemed to not rate a lot of points when trying hard to just do the "right" thing.

So I told Jared about this weeks after it happened, and he at first thought it was a dumb move as well; then immediately did an about face and figured it was smart because I was afraid of being caught. Say what?  I hadn't tried to bilk/cheat anyone so that take was very much off my radar. That said, it was becoming obvious to me that not everyone has the same take as I happen to on these kinds of situations.  In fact, this was the third of fourth time I had insisted on being honest with money, and had riled up the troops at more than one store in my few (relatively) short years. Seems like a paradoxical way to be a troublemaker, but so it goes.

Here's the thing though. I thought at some point this just might be an anecdote to throw in at some Family Home Evening lesson down the road to illustrate to the grandkids that honesty is the best policy. Just for the sake of choosing the right, right? Then 6 months later Jared gets this amazing deal on the flooring of my dreams for the main house, and saves about as much money on it--- we're talking pennies on the dollar here, as would have lined my pockets had I taken advantage of Lowe's earlier. I would never even have thought to indulge myself with gorgeous floors in that case anyway, so I end up way happier in the end! Not that I expected any kind of reward in the first place, mind you. But when you think about it, "Karma" can be full of surprises.

EPILOGUE
Shortly afterwards, the Casita was flooded- at the exact moment I fell off ladder and shattered my heel. Not the best day.  The Plumbing company who was re-piping the houses in the area had to pay for the ruined laminate floor. Just last week they accepted Jared's bid and gave me a check for the full amount (originally they had balked and sent out another company to do an estimate, but turns out that was higher). So we saved enough money to cover the new floor and labor for the Casita, so the guys made a little profit, and I'm only out tens of thousands of dollars for the broken foot! Win, win! (Well, especially for the Hospital)


To be sure, a lot of my choices are less than stellar, and sometimes those consequences are apparent in this life, and sometimes they seem to be lurking in the wings of the next life. The seemingly good choices I manage often ironically appear to invite punishment (i.e., said foot). Nevertheless, for one day it kind of feels like living in a fairy tale! Thanks, Karma!

Is that how it works for you?  See if you relate to this little clip: