tell me if i’m crazy

Well, first of all, I guess paying $20 for sugar is crazy, but bear with me here.

We buy tea at Teavana, a tea store in the mall.  We’ve spent quite a bit of money there over the last few years and continue to shop there despite their pushy, slightly snobby salesclerks & slightly expensive tea.

I make a really delicious iced tea blending a Rooibos & a Herbal Tea and ran out of some the other day so we went out there today to get some more.  It’s about a 20 minute drive, not far, but certainly farther than Safeway.  While there we decided to restock the German Rock Sugar that we also get there.  It’s a three pound container that lasts about a year, give or take.  This time the sugar was packed in Teavana’s large tea tin containers instead of the glass jars that they’ve previously been sold in.  Each had been individually weighed and priced.  There was a price tag on the side that stated the sugar in that container was $23.52.

The salesclerk said that the glass jars had been discontinued by the company and they would probably have new jars  sometime in July.  We mentioned that we already had a jar and he said if we wanted he could pack the sugar in a bag or something or we could bring the jar in and they could refill it for us.  Since we weren’t planning on coming back to the mall for awhile so we just purchased the sugar & teas and went home.

When we got home Ray was putting everything away and looking over the receipt he noticed that they charged us $23.52 for the sugar and an additional $7.00 for the tin.  Not once did either clerk tell us that the tin was a separate charge.  There was no signage on the table with the sugar and no price tag on the tin except for the one that said the sugar was $23.52.

Am I crazy for being pissed about this?  It’s not that we can’t afford $7, but it’s the principle.  I feel like the clerks were getting away with something by not mentioning that the tin was not included with the sugar even though the sugar was IN THE TIN.  Even when he told us that we could bring in our jar and have it refilled he didn’t say anything like ‘then you wouldn’t have to pay for the tin.’

I sent an email to the company just to vent my frustration.  It’s not worth it to drive all the way back to the mall to return the tin, but I just feel like I want someone to say, ‘yes, you’re right, that was wrong.’

So … am I crazy?