A Day Of Disappointments

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About a year and a half ago, I was perusing the Dallas Cowboys website and noticed an ad down in the corner. It was to apply for a Dallas Cowboys credit card.  Naturally, I applied for it right away, and was right away approved.  A few days later, my card arrived in the mail.  As with most credit cards, I had to call to get it activated.  Only, this time I spoke to a live person instead of an automated system.  I don't think--no, I know I've never had as much fun activating a credit card.  The guy and I carried on a right conversation.  He told me he was a Raiders fan, and I said, "Oh, I'm so sorry!"  He responded that that is what his brother in law said to him also.  Finally, the card was activated, but the customer service guy, I even remember his name.  It was Ron.  Anyway, Ron had one last question for me.  Why did you choose this card?

I told him the truth.  I wanted a card with the Dallas Cowboys star on it.

So, I began using the card.  Boy, I just loved plunking that card with the star on it down.  And one day, I got a surprise.  An autographed mini helmet.   It was a thank you for using my Dallas Cowboys card.  That was just icing on the cake to me.

Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago.  I received a letter from the Bank saying that the NFL Rewards program was going to be dropped and that my Dallas Cowboys credit card would no longer be valid after July 31st.  Any reward points I had accrued had to be used up by August 31st or they would be lost.  But, I would be receiving a new, plain, nothing special about it credit card to replace my Dallas Cowboys card.

What a disappointment.  I don't need another new, plain, nothing special about it credit card.  I wanted a Dallas Cowboys card.  Bummer.

So, I went to the Rewards website to see how many points I had.  I didn't have many, but I was able to order this.

A melamine serving tray. Pretty huh? But again I was disappointed. See what is stuck to it?

Nope, not one of the easily removed, modern labels, but an old fashioned 20th century sticker.  And boy was it stuck, too.  I soaked the tray for a couple of hours and got the paper off, but the glue residue was still on my tray.

I knew I had some Goo Gone somewhere, but couldn't find it.  I worked at removing the residue with dish soap and my plastic scrubby, but it wouldn't budge.  Finally, after I had gone to bed and gotten back up because I'd forgotten something, I found the Goo Gone on the floor of the utility room, behind the mop bucket where it had fallen from the shelf.  I removed the sticker residue, and that's when I noticed that, as gentle as I'd tried to be, I'd still badly scratched the surface of my tray.

My first thought was to send it back and demand that they send me another one.  After all, it was their fault for using those old fashioned stickers.  But I didn't think I'd get away with it.  And besides that, it'd get worn with use anyway.  So I choked back my disappointment and dealt with it.

It held my fettuccine Alfredo just fine.

And my ice cream.  It was really nice to have something besides my legs to set hot dishes on.  It was even better not to have to try to balance my plate on the arm of my chair.  So, all it all, it was a good purchase.

Especially since it was free.

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