Extreme Couponing - I'm so not one of those people

I spent entirely too much on groceries this week. I've been to Kroger twice and Meijer in the last 3 days. I don't really enjoy grocery shopping but I realize that I need to be a good steward with the money God has allowed us to have so I try to cut out coupons and buy sale items.

So, tonight I went back to Kroger to get the sale stuff that I forgot on Friday. I went for Pepsi (for David), organic milk, Kraft Cheese and a two liter of Sierra Mist Natural. I had coupons for all of these things and they were on sale. My total should have been around $30. So, tell me how I my bill was $93? I have no idea. Oh yeah, and I had to get a rain check on the Pepsi. LOL They were out of Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi in a case. I asked a nice young man if they had any in the back. He checked and said no. I also was going to buy Frito's because I had a coupon on them. If I bought two (sale price $1.99) I had a $1 coupon and get a free 2 liter of Pepsi Max (which my Mom loves). Guess what? They had no 2 liters of Pepsi Max either. So, the guy said I could get a rain check for the Pepsi and the 2 liter.

I went through the check out line and then stood in the customer service line for 10 minutes waiting to get my rain checks. Mom was still checking out. Here's our conversation:
Cashier: "I can't give you a rain check if we have these items."
Me: Uh, okay. If you had them I wouldn't need a rain check, right? I'd buy them tonight.
Cashier: "Well, I have to check with the guys in the back."
Me: "Okay, but I already did and they said there isn't any back there. Everything is on the shelf"
She called the guy in the back and I could hear him on the phone. She said do you have . . . and proceeded to ask for everything I had said. He said, "I told her we didn't have them just a few minutes ago." I so wanted to say really hateful, "I told you so" but I'm trying to be like Jesus and I thought he probably wouldn't have been a smart alec.

She then proceeded to tell me that with all of these extreme couponers (not sure if that is a word or not), they have to be really careful with rain checks. Really? I mean we're talking about $6 cases of Pepsi not free soap. She said they can't have people clearing their shelves and then getting rain checks to come back and get more. I told her that I had spent over $200 in the last 2 days at Kroger and only used $12 in coupons total for both trips. I'm hardly an extreme coupon queen. Then she told me I couldn't get a rain check for my mom for the Pepsi.

"If she's not here, I can't give you a rain check". I said "She is here. She's paying for her groceries right over there".
"Well, I'll let you do it this time, but I'm not supposed to let you get one for someone who isn't in the store."

Sometimes I think when I talk nothing comes out. Either that or this girl was a couple sandwiches shy of a picnic. Not sure which one. She seemed fairly intelligent so I'm sure she maybe was just having a bad night.

Oh well, Kroger is becoming one of my least favorite places to shop. Yeah, they double coupons, but is it really worth it. I can always count on something ringing up wrong and then they are hateful when you take your receipt to the counter to tell them. And now, if I want a rain check, they treat you like a criminal. Oh, how I long for the days when grocery shopping was easy.

I'm just a stay at home mom who is trying to feed her family on one income. Extreme coupon mamma I'm not.