I did it

Yesterday I made my first return at a store in China. Last week I bought three batteries to replace some button batteries from Jack's math toy. I knew the battery number and saw the same number on some just-arrived batteries at the store (after having looked and looked for them at that store and others), so I bought them. When I got home, I found that while the numbers were the same, the size was not. So, I had a dilemma. To return or not to return. I knew that returning would involve a number of unpleasant steps. I'd have to get to the store, speak entirely in Chinese, and persuade the worker or manager to give me my money back. But, it was the principle of the matter, so decided to muster the courage and do it.

I approached the cashier and showed her the batteries, both old and new. In basic Chinese, I explained that I bought the new ones to replace the other ones but they are not the same. Since this is China, two workers took the batteries over to the display to check to see if they could find a match. Of course they could not. After a brief discussion amongst themselves they decided it would be ok to give me my money back... VICTORY!