Do you ever go to stores that print off personalized coupons with your receipt? A couple of the grocery stores we frequent do this, and Target is great about sending us coupon sets in the mail. Granted, the collection of personalized coupons from Target border on creepy and stalkerish, but they’re helpful nonetheless.
Why, yes. Yes, I would like a coupon for that item that I hide near the bottom of my cart so no one notices it, thanks! 
I guess more and more places are doing this, and I appreciate coupons as much as the next guy, but sometimes they’re annoying. The random ones that we’d never use are just wasteful, and the ones that hit a little too close to home make me feel weird.
It’s not that I’m completely offended by things like this (or offended easily in general), but something happened this weekend that made me pause. I dare say, part of me *was* kind of offended or even almost embarrassed, but that’s not even the right way to describe it.
What’s a good cross between almost embarrassed and offended, without really being either, but teetering on the edge of both? Ponder that. And, given that, what would make things better or worse? I know! I’ll write about them in a public forum!
I’ve done this before, so this shouldn’t be too shocking. (No, I won’t link to anything here, but feel free to do a search for chopsticks in the little search-field at the top of the blog. If you dare.) This time, I’ll keep the specific details to myself so as not to lure unsuspecting Googlers to the site or totally embarrass Claire when her friends find my blog years from now.
Plus, seeing ads for this particular item on my sidebar would probably make my head explode. (But, because I’m such a big fan of irony, it would make me laugh…so there is an upside.)
I’ve written before about some challenges that Claire has had in the past. She’s still following the doctor’s orders, and things are running smoothly. So to speak. Rather than pay full-price for her medication over-the-counter, we buy a generic brand available through the pharmacy with a doctor’s prescription for a fraction of the cost. This weekend, Claire and I went to our local pharmacy to pick that up. I was feeling particularly lazy, and it was snowing, so I decided to go through the Drive Thru instead of go into the store. The friendly pharmacist promptly handled my transaction and handed me the paper bag. Stapled to it were my receipts and paperwork. I didn’t think anything of this.
I get home, and go about my day, and then I’m organizing my receipts, and I notice that this particular store has started printing coupons with the receipts.
When I saw their friendly product suggestion, I gasped out loud and then became equal parts nearly embarrassed and almost offended.
My hubby wanted to know what was wrong, and it took me a while to even explain why I was so taken aback by this. It was hilarious and not funny at all, all at the same time. I mean, Claire is three! Apparently their little computer system doesn’t take that into account. She’s clueless (thankfully!!) to the stigma attached to her prescription or for the item on the coupon Momma got with her order. I felt the need to defend her, and us! I wanted to shout, “She has ABSOLUTELY NO NEED for anything related to her prescriptions, and neither do we!”
But, we already know that. And, the computer has no idea. Numbers in. Numbers out. I doubt the pharmacist even gave the coupon a second look before he stapled it to our bag.
I guess, if an adult was taking Claire’s Rx, they *might* need what was suggested on the coupon. Maybe. But, odds are, they wouldn’t want some computer somewhere spitting out a very blatant reminder. Would they?
Or maybe they wouldn’t care. Maybe they’d look at the coupon and say, “Sweet! My special cream is $2 off! Let’s stock up!”
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
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