A Rant about the kid's consignment store

I have given a lot of McGee's old clothes and sundry stuff to friends who are having babies, but I still have oodles of random goodies just taking up space in my home. As I am about to move, I figured it would be best to go ahead and get rid of every last bit of it. Having purchased from Kid to Kid children's consignment store in the past, it occurred to me I ought to sell his things to them in exchange for store credit. How could this be a bad idea?! They could give me buying power in exchange for my stuff, and I could get all new useless stuff for my kid. Win - win, right?

I loaded up my car with clothes and gear, and some older toys, and headed to the store with high hopes. Upon arrival I was faced with having to put kiddo in a carrier and them schlep everything into the store. Now, I'm not saying I expect them to watch the parking lot just in case a woman is struggling to carry a ton of stuff... but I walked in with a huge load, and after telling them I had a lot more to bring in, not one of the employees offered to help. Two trips later, I was ready for their review of my things.

Going through the clothes was amusing - apparently, they only sell "complete outfits" in sizes 18mo or smaller. I have never purchased complete outfits for my son - I buy him jeans, some comfy pants, and every cute shirt I can afford. It took almost an hour for them to go through and decide to buy *literally* half of the clothes. And I'd like to point out that they liked the things I considered to be the lamest, yet passed on funky unique pieces. Okay - so that explains why I can never find cool kid clothes there.

With toys they have a policy not to accept anything without a tag stating the manufacturer. While I appreciate that they check every toy for recalls, I was irritated at the number of cool toys they turned down due to lack of labeling! We're talking standard Sassy brand toys, easily recognizable to anyone who has ever bred, and they wouldn't take them. Lame.

For the carseat, which came with two bases, they said I should come back with an owners manual... the one I threw away as soon as it was out of the box. I was told they wouldn't mind if I printed one off from online and came back. Really? You wouldn't mind if I deal with doing all of this again another day? Even though you're sitting in front of a computer right now... Gee, thanks.

They bought my bouncy seat, and a Graco swing. The swing was a burden, as I didn't have the toy mobile, so they informed me I had to remove the swinging arm designed to hold said mobile. Seriously- with a toddler strapped onto my chest, they had me on the floor trying to dismantle this huge swing while they watched. Customer service is dead at Kid to Kid.

By the time we were finished McGee was ready to nap, and squirming in his mei tai. My back was killing me, and my patience was running short. After all of this effort, I was ready to get a little bit of money to spend... and the grand total for 2 big pieces of gear and tons of clothes?

$35. Seriously. $35.

Guess where I'll never be going again?!

In related news: who wants a really cool carseat with two bases (you might want to look up an owners manual online;)