You can scan through this blog's archives to see my history with our friends at Canadian Tire. It was enough to get me linked onto the CBC Marketplace web site after they did a story on CT "money".

Apparently, my wife didn't think it necessary to quit shopping at Canadian Tire. She doesn't make a habit of it, but I now have an ally in my own house. Here's her story.

This week, my wife went to the CT in Richmond Hill (the same one where I had my fun). A friend of hers is getting married and the couple is registered at Canadian Tire, among other places.

Because she was already in the same plaza, Michelle went in with our two-year-old in tow to look on the registry computer and purchase a wedding gift. Unfortunately, the free-standing computer terminal was down -- it happens.

So she and my daughter head to the customer service desk, where there are several people standing around talking and four or five computer terminals. My wife tells one of the clerks the registry is down and asks if they could look online for her.

She's told no.

A little taken aback, Michelle asks why the clerk can't do this for her and is told she'll have to do it from home. No explanation of why the clerk can't do it, just that she won't. My wife points out she has a child with her and it would make things much easier if the clerk could help her out, and the clerk refused again.

So my wife left, came home, found another store where the couple had registered and later bought a gift for around $125 -- $125 CT could have easily had if the employee had done her job.

Congrats, CT -- two down and around 32 million to go!

Wow. This just makes me really glad for the internet.