Assembly Required

This weekend, we decided to buy a new gas grill. We have been looking for awhile now, and I wanted to cook out on Memorial Day. It was time!

We had read reviews and had one picked out at Walmart. There was only one problem with that. Only one Walmart in town had the grill in stock according to the Web site. So we drove across town to that Walmart, and found out that the Web site lies. They did not have the grill.

We went back home, read more reviews and chose a different grill. This time, we went to a Walmart slightly closer to our house. I was trying to entertain the kids in the toy section while Eric and a couple of employees went to load the new grill in the back of the SUV.

A few minutes later, Eric came back to tell me, “We have a little problem.” Apparently, the box was just slightly too big to fit in the back of the car, so Eric removed the car seats. I said, “YOU WHAT?!”

Yes, to get the grill in the back, Eric had to remove the car seats and fold the seats down. He explained that he was just going to run the grill home, unload it, put the car seats back in, and come back to get me and the kids. Dude! He couldn’t have dropped the kids and I off at home and then come back to get the grill?? Apparently not.

You can all imagine how peeved I was with this development. You may have read how Georgia likes to act in a store, so hanging out with the kids for an hour in Walmart was not appealing. And that’s what it was – an hour in Walmart on a Saturday afternoon in the toy section. I'm sure you know how busy Walmart is on a Saturday, and I was trying desperately to keep my kids from spreading out into the whole aisle with their various toys.

Eric came back to get me, and we all went home so Eric and I could then try to put together the new grill. After he opened the box and took it out, he discovered that the front of the grill was severely bent. He said, “Do you think we should take it back?” Um, gee, YES!

Eric loaded it back up and took it back. He did not get another one because apparently they only had one left and the box looked damaged. Well crap. An entire Saturday afternoon and we were no closer to a new grill.

Sunday was grill shopping, the sequel. This time, Eric went to Target ALONE to buy the grill. He chose one and brought it home and we started putting it together. The instructions said the assembly would only take 45 minutes to an hour. Two and a half hours later, we had it assembled.

Then Sunday night and Monday came the downpour. That’s right – severe thunderstorms. We got a new grill and got it all put together, covered it with a new grill cover and got to look at it out the window.