Wherefore art thou, Darwinism?

Like many other stores across this county, the store I shop in (Kroger) has one of those rewards programs - you know, one of those deals where 10 packets of Quaker oatmeal is $5 for non rewards members and $2.50 for rewards members. Kroger has taken it a step further and has brought fuel into this concept. If you spend $150 per month, you get ten cents a gallon off of up to 4 purchases the following month. If you spend $350, you get twenty cents and it goes from there - you get the picture.

So..$150 per month, no bog deal. I pack my lunch religiously and generally cook at home most of the week, so $150, no big deal. My Kroger on Bethel and Dierker is in the process of getting a gas station - and with the next closest Kroger gas station north of 270 on Sawmill, I have not been able to utilize this benefit. The Kroger near Tim's house has a gas station, and when I was leaving his house the other day, I need gas. So I go to the pump, and realize you need an actual card to get the benefit. In the store, you can punch in your phone number and get credit, so not having a card was no big deal. So I go in the store, go to the service desk and tell the guy I want to get a replacement card so I can buy gas. He looks straight at me and says:

"You don't want to buy it today do you?"

I looked at him dumbfounded - first, I had just told him that and second, why would I not want to buy it today when I can get money off the price????? (For those of you that do not live in Ohio and are curious about the price of gas, I paid $3.39 yesterday - obviously not at Kroger). Apparently they have to activate the card and that can't be done on a weekend, which I can totally live with, but come one dude - or am I missing something here?

I make it home and have some errands to run, laundry to do. So I decide to put my laundry in before going to the dry cleaners - my laundry is just horrible these days from kickboxing. I decide to wash my wraps because they are worse than the clothes. I carefully unwind them, strap the Velcro down and put them lovingly in my linen bag. My bathroom towels need washed, and after looking at the size of the load, decide it can all be done in one load. I put it in, and off I go.

Upon returning from the dry cleaners, I go down to move my laundry - and am horrified to find my nice, fluffy WHITE bath towels from Macy's are now pink. In my effort to conserve, I had overlooked the wraps I had so carefully placed in a linen bag were red. Due to the nastiness of the load, I had also opted to wash it on hot - I usually wash it all in cold.

What goes around comes around.