TRAVEL HERE: QUIT IMPROVING MY STUFF!
Most of you know that I spend a whole lot of time helping out my elderly parents. Often that means I’m hearing them complain about things they can no longer get.
The Things They Can’t Get
Dad hates sore throats, because cough drops just don’t do the job of Tonsaline. Mom desperately needs some clothes, but she can’t find anything that looks like what she has in her closet – and something that looks like what’s already in her closet is what she wants. Dad needs a casual jacket. Not a windbreaker, a hoodie, a sports coat or some denim number. Mom wants him to have a chino version of a bomber jacket and nothing lined with fake fur or Goretex. If Mom checks one more store to see if they have any of the spot remover Dryel used to make, I’m going to throw myself in the floor and start screaming. (Watch for it. Video at nine.)
I may get tired of my parents harping on what’s not available, but to tell the truth, I’m not fond of all this improvement either. It makes me crazy when I stand in the household cleaning department carefully inspecting every label, because whatever product I’m looking for doesn’t look like it used to. When I find it, it will either announce that it’s got the same old quality in new packaging or it has a new scent or it’s now organic or biodegradable or green or something else that I don’t give a rat’s posterior about.
They can’t fool me! They changed the product so that they could charge more for it. I was happy with the old stuff. I really don’t care if they just marked it up. Make my life easier! Don’t make me guess that the new blue and green bottle with yellow block letters is the new unreasonable facsimile of what used to come in a green and yellow box with blue letters. So what if years ago your company bought out the one I’ve been buying canned onion rings from. I’m looking for that red thing on the label and I really want it to be there.
But every once and a while companies improve themselves right out of my life. I’ve been using Glade Plugins Scented Gel Refills for ever. I bought the dispensers years ago and when I moved, they moved right along with me. Only problem is, they don’t make them anymore! This is a fairly new set of circumstances. I always bought up tons of refills and kept them on hand – so they could have been discontinued months ago, but right now it’s really ticking me off.
My usual M.O. is to grumble a little bit and then move on, but for once I decided to actually tell a company what I thought about their decision. I found Glade online and sent them an email. They were ever so sorry that they had discontinued my favorite product, but “The Glade team works hard to introduce new scents and collections that offer variety for consumers, but sadly, this means we sometimes have to take some products out of the lineup to make room for others.”
Sadly, my left foot. Someone noticed how many Glade Plugins Scented Gel Refills they sold and decided that if they discontinued the the refills we’d all be forced to buy new dispensers. Miss Nice Lady That Responded To My Email has mailed me a coupon for a dispenser and some refills. Very generous of them. Like one dispenser is going to solve the problem in my two story, four bedroom home! I haven’t exactly figured out what I’m going to do about this, but I’m really not fond of the idea of buying a dozen new dispensers. Of course, the new dispensers cost more than the old ones did, as do the refills.
And how wasteful to throw away all the old dispensers. Think of all the homemakers in America throwing away all the old Glad Plugin dispensers that aren’t any good any more. How green is that?
Homemakers of America Unite!! I’m not sure exactly what we can do about this outrage, but there should be something. Let other people Occupy Wall Street or sign up for the Tea Party. I want my Glade Plugins Scented Gel Refills and I want them right now.
Miscellaneous Jane 