Returns

"I hate returning items", was my conclusion to the story about my patio furniture experience.  "Do you know why people avoid and hate returning items? A.M. added.  Puzzled, I pondered what it was that caused my stomach to contract when thinking of the return process - the effort, repackaging the items, the wait in customer service line, the potential conflict, or the time to rebuy.  It was none of these. 

"It is because the return confirms you are a loser" - A.M. bluntly revealed.  

That was it!  The return was confirming I had wasted my time in the original procurement, AND that I was wasting even more time "undoing" the purchase AND I might even waste additional time rebuying the item in the first place.  Then there is still the risk the process could happen again.... and again.