Grill of His Dreams

Almost every spring Steve starts assessing our grill situation. He talks about how we need a new one, how the old one isn’t good enough, how it doesn’t get hot enough, it’s too small, it takes too long to heat up, etc, etc. Then he starts shopping at stores and online. He compares prices, he looks at models, he obsesses about features and styles. In the end, he always wants one grill: the Weber Genesis. Problem is that the darned thing is just really expensive and, well, we’re cheap.

By the time late summer/early fall hits, Steve scours the local hardware stores in search of a bargain. Many of the floor models are now on sale, but the prices just never seem to drop enough. A dent or scratch usually doesn’t bother him, but the price must be right. Sunday we were at Lowe’s and he saw the last remaining floor model on sale for $200 off the regular price. He started talking again about how much he wanted it and how it was his dream grill. Yesterday morning I made the decision to get it for him for our anniversary.

I called my father-in-law Pete, since he has a truck, to see if he would be willing to meet me at Lowe’s after work to pick it up. He was in and reminded me that he even gets his Lowe’s employee 10% discount even though he’s retired. Excellent! I called the store to see if they would hold it for me and that’s when I got the bad news: the floor model was for natural gas only. Rats! I was determined to get this for Steve so I called Sutherlands to see if they still had the model we’d looked at last summer. It was a higher-end model with a side burner so I knew it would be a little more, but I was hoping for a deal. The woman told me it was on sale for 30% off, $90 more than Lowe’s, and she wouldn’t budge on the price. I called Pete but he’d left the house and forgotten his phone, so I told Diana to give him the message to call me. I decided I’d bite the bullet and pay the extra money for this model.

In the meantime, Pete had left the house to go to Lowe’s to see the grill. He discovered what I knew (the grill was natural gas) and went over to Sutherlands too (great minds think alike). He then called to tell me he’d managed to talk the store into matching the Lowe’s price. Score! He also asked if they’d honor his military discount of an additional 10% off, but they refused since they were already giving him a bargain on the grill. No problem because I was just excited to be saving $90 at this point. When we arrived at the store, the employee who rang us up gave Pete his military discount anyway which meant I got the grill for almost half price! Score, again! I was so excited about all of it. Not only did I get a good deal, I had the cash to buy it, I had Pete available to haul it home in his truck and I had great neighbors who were at home and able to help haul it off the truck and onto the deck.

When Steve got home, I told him I wanted to cook out and that I’d already started the grill. He looked at me like I was nuts (it was snowing outside and really cold). I told him that was fine but asked if he’d go out and turn off the grill since he was still wearing his coat. I could tell his patience was wearing thin with me. That is, until he opened the blinds and saw what was on the deck. He couldn’t believe it. Happy Anniversary, I yelled. Although the actual day isn’t until February 29th, I knew this couldn’t wait and I couldn’t wait to give it to him. He was so excited! He immediately hooked up the propane tank and started it up. Then he went inside and started looking up information on it on the Internet. He went on and on about how this was really the grill he wanted and how he couldn’t believe I’d done it.

Tonight we will use it for the first time. I told him to stop at the store and get whatever he wanted to cook for dinner. Happy Anniversary (six weeks early) Steve!