72 Hours and Counting

In case you are wondering what took me so long at the grocery store the other day, I'll tell you.  This may need a little background.


It all started shortly after we got here.  Every time I went to the grocery store the checkout clerk asked me if I had a Cartao Mais.  I always answered, "Nao." At first I didn't know what the clerks were talking about, which was not surprising because the reality of it was that I didn't know what anyone was talking about.  But soon I sensed that a Cartao Mais was something desirable. Maybe it was the pitiful way the clerk and the people in line looked at me when I said I didn't have one.  It made me feel like a kid in Junior High in the 80's that didn't have a Trapper Keeper.


I started to desire a Cartao Mais.

  Since I couldn't find a picture of a Cartao Mais, I thought this would do.  It is from Brasil and written in Portuguese at least.

So I asked the elders in the office about it and they filled me in.  Cartao Mais was a card for shoppers so they could collect bonus points that would be worth X amount of $ in groceries when you collected a certain amount.  Being the sucker savvy shopper that I am, I knew I had to have one.  What would my sister Lucy, the undisputed queen of Bon Bucks, think of me if I did not sign up for a card and try to get free stuff.  

So I did.

At first it was great.  I quickly earned points because you have to buy a lot of food when you are feeding missionaries. Before I knew it I had earned 5,000 points; enough to get R$50 worth of food for free.  I was thrilled when I cashed in my points.  I almost called Lucy.

Then they changed the program.  Instead of getting R$50 at 5,000 points, it took 6,000 points to get R$50.  BUT if I waited to cash in my points until I earned 9,000 points, I could get R$100.  When they changed the program, I no longer needed the actual card.  All I had to do was register my CPF number.  It's equivalent to our SS number.  Every time I went to buy stuff, the clerk punched in the numbers and before long I was racking up points again.  I decided I was in no hurry and I might as well go for the R$100.

Late in January, I finally had 9,000 points.  It was redemption time.  

The next time I went to the store, I presented the clerk my receipt that showed my points and said I would like to use them.  She told me I needed to call their headquarters in Sao Paulo first so that I could redeem them.  

Can I just say here, that I love Brazil and all, but if there is a hard or complicated way to do retail business, they will choose it every time.  But when in Brazil, I do as the Brazilians do.

So a few days later I called the 1-800 number the clerk at the store had given me to get permission to redeem my points.  The lady on the phone said I had 30 days to spend the R$100.  Thirty days?  That should be easy.

Next trip to the store, I gathered up the things on my list and headed for the nearest cashier.  My total was R$46.73.  I told her I wanted to use my points.  I was secretly hoping the person behind me in line would see that I was going to get my groceries for free and think I was a little bit awesome.   

My delusions of grandeur were crushed when the cashier told me that I needed to use all R$100 in one transaction.  The eager smile on my face disappeared and I stood there in stunned silence.  I was informed that I could go ahead and use the points on the groceries I had that day, but I would lose the rest of the R$100 credit.  

No way was that going to happen.  

So I paid  the R$46.73 and went home.  I knew we had  two dinners back to back coming up before the 30 days was up and I would use my R$100 then.

Last Saturday morning I went in armed with the list of groceries I needed for the dinners. I filled my cart,  adding things up in my head so I would know I had reached the R$100 mark, and headed for the cashier. The total was R$128.78.  I told the cashier I would like to use my credit today.  She punched in a few numbers and said, "You don't have any credits to use.  My computer screen says the points were used yesterday."  

Now, I am usually a mild-mannered person, and under the circumstances I think I acted in accordance with that image, or delusion, whatever it is, that I have of myself.  However, had I been drawn as a cartoon at that moment, there definitely would have been steam and or smoke coming out of my head.  I wasn't giving in on this one.  

The cashier turned me over to his manager who got on the telephone and called store headquarters in Sao Paulo and turned me over to someone there.  The woman on the other end of the line had a lot of questions.  She was a pretty tough cookie herself, but I  insisted that I had not used the credit, and that I was not accepting this as a final answer. She finally said they would investigate and call me back within 72 hours. 

72 hours = 3 days, right? 

After 5 days and still no phone call, I went to the store again and found the manager on duty.  His name was Anderson and he was very nice.  I, too, was nice.  He called their headquarters again.  They said that a certain Francisca da Souza had used my credit and they had the receipt she had signed.  They asked if I knew her.  I told them that I did not, and of course, I don't.  BUT... I would like to be introduced.  Though I probably wouldn't have a sufficient vocabulary in Portuguese to tell her everything I would like to, I'm pretty sure she would get my drift.

So as of today, this still isn't resolved. Rodrigo from the store headquarters in Sao Paulo is investigating a little further and he will call me in 72 hours.

I'll be waiting.