Bean Binge

          The email from L.L.Bean trumpeted “20% Off!” so in an idle moment I scouted through the sale section to see if it might be possible to acquire a swimsuit for less than the cost of a week’s worth of groceries.
There was, indeed, such a thing. The reviews for the suit were all positive, aside from the fact that it tended to fade after four months. Our water aerobics gang is pretty non-judgmental, so I clicked through the ordering pages and it was as good as on its way. 

          Next came the water bottle fiasco on Saturday, so back I went to my friends at Bean and ordered up a replacement at 20% off. 

          Two days later, my husband decided to try out a hat he’d bought recently when he went out to water the yard. The hat was a baseball cap on steroids, with a nice long bill in front and a big flap for the neck. Perfect for a former red-head with quarterly visits to the dermatologist. Except he returned to the house scarlet-faced and bathed in sweat. His nifty new hat, it turns out, must have been intended for fall fly-fishing in Anchorage, all quilted and air tight.

          Sure enough, the 20% was still holding strong, and I was able to tack on an unused Father’s Day gift card, and the new lightweight replacement cap was practically in our hands. 

          I did feel a small twinge of guilt at knowing the UPS man would have to bump his way down our ramshackle, pothole-filled road on three different days to deliver my three separate orders. But yesterday the first arrived and I tossed it on the porch on my way to run errands.

          When I later opened it, I stood there staring at a pair of cargo shorts. Wait.  I knew I’d been over-doing the shopping on-line lately, but had I ordered shorts? The package was addressed to me, at my address. Closer inspection of the invoice, though, showed that Mary Jo Somebody of Port Charlotte, Florida would not be receiving her tan cargo shorts as soon as she had hoped. 

          A phone call to Bean – which has the best customer service on the planet and beyond – and all was righted. I would send back Mary Jo’s shorts so they could start their trip again, and a new swimsuit for me was practically on its way. 

          I’d better add our UPS man to the Christmas cookie list.