The Chair

So if you read my previous post, you know that we have been quite unsuccessful in shopping for living room furniture.  My wonderful husband, decided to make the trek to IKEA yet again on Monday night.  I never turn down a chance to shop, so the girls and I were ready to load up and head out as soon as Daddy made it in from work.

Once we arrived at IKEA and figured out exactly how much Euro we needed to purchase everything, I headed over to the ATM to withdraw all that cash so we could shop VAT free.  (For those of you not familiar with taxes in Europe, that's a 19% tax added to all merchandise....that I definitely want back anytime we can get it!)  The ATM proceeded to argue with me and would not disperse my money.  The look on my face must have given me away, because as soon as I approached Will, he new things had not gone well.  After a lengthy discussion, we realized that it wasn't a lack of funds in our account but that the amount exceeded our daily withdraw limit!  Would we have to go home furniture-less again?  I couldn't bear the thought, and was almost in tears when my wonderful husband suggested calling our bank and having the limit raised for the day.  

Once we figured out how to call the US with our German cell phone, the bank gladly agreed to raise our limit.  Cash in hand, we gleefully head over to the furniture section of the store to order our sofa and chair.  After finding someone who spoke English, we were able to get the order printed out and headed to checkout.  Finally I would have my living room furniture....or at least I thought I would.  In the 30 minutes it took for us to walk through the store, IKEA had magically sold out of the chairs I wanted.  There was not one in stock and won't be for at least two more weeks!  Two more weeks....I have waited two months, already!  Needless to say I was upset, angry even, and begin grumbling to myself about how unfair this really was.

By this time it was late, and the "hangry's" had set in.  I was tired, hungry, and now very angry that I was not getting my way.  After all this, I still had to wait in two more lines to pay for delivery and get my VAT money back.  The girls and Will headed out to the car to watch a movie while I waited, and waited, and waited some more.  Finally it was my turn to schedule delivery for my sofa.  Frustrated I asked the man if he spoke English...."Nay, kline"..."No, none." Great, how much more fun can this evening be I thought, and then plastered a forced smile on my face.  With what little German I know, I was able to give the delivery man our address and then he gave me THE LOOK....the universal look that says, "You're not gonna like this!"  Our house is exactly 5 km outside of the delivery area, and that means 45 Euro more added to the 69 Euro delivery charge.   Completely defeated, I sighed and told him we had no other choice to go ahead.

At this point, he leaves and begins speaking with the customer service representative who handles the VAT refunds.  He returned and I paid the full amount of delivery and extra mileage.  Then the man pointed to the customer service lady and said "You see her.  Get 45 Euro back."  The man had arranged to have the extra mileage refunded!  How wonderful, I thought, there are kind people after all.  Thanking him, I headed over to get the VAT money back.  The wonderful customer service lady then blessed me again, by giving our family vouchers for free hot dogs and sodas.  Since it was already 8pm, and we hadn't eaten this proved to be a wonderful meal.  We headed home, tired but with full tummies and a sofa scheduled for delivery.

Once the kiddos were in the bed, Will asked how much the chair would cost when we went back and how much Euro I had in my wallet.  He wanted to make sure we kept enough Euro out so we could just go and get it.  I looked in the catalog and found the chair, 199 Euro.   We then counted all the bills in my wallet...200 Euro!  We realized that had we tried to pay for the chair initially, we would not have had enough money.  It wasn't until getting the extra mileage and VAT refund, that we actually had the correct amount.  I suddenly felt so small and humble.  In all this God had worked out a way that I could have my chair and pay for it in cash.  Despite my nasty attitude, and grumbling the Lord blessed our family.  I am so glad that our God is bigger than my grumpy, whiny attitude.