Double Whammy

It's a total scam of course, everything is full price right up to Christmas Day. The day after, everything is marked down 20, 30, even 40 percent. Worse, you didn't get a gift receipt to go with that reindeer-festooned sweater that you now have to return. The only thing you can exchange it for is a pair of socks. How can such a "pretty" sweater now be worth a pair of socks? If all of us were really smart, we would only buy gifts from stores that have gift receipts. And if we are even smarter, we should "return" everything the day after Christmas and "buy" it back. Of course the stores are counting on the tryptophan-induced coma to last until after the clearance sale, where your sweater will be worth one sock, and you have to pay to get the other one. It's a double whammy.

Brian and I went to some stores today to return/exchange clothes that didn't fit or would induce vertigo on an unsuspecting onlooker. We were able to gain $50 just from "return and re-buy" strategy rather than exchanging items. Brian didn't have a gift receipt for the Old Navy pajamas that were marked down to $6.50 from $14.95. However, the refund has to be mailed back to him. Ridiculous. Anyone know how to make sock puppets?