BEWARE: DO NOT LET THIS STORE BULLY YOU INTO WASTING YOUR TIME, MONEY, AND CLOTHING!

Today was the grand opening of the new, two-story Forever 21 at the Los Cerritos Mall. It was really something to see. There were fanatic 17-year-old girls who camped out the night before just to be one of the first 500 people in line. Kiis FM had been advertising all week about a special gift card giveaway ranging from $10 to $210 for the first 500 shoppers.

Since the store would open at 10 AM, my friends and I arrived at 7:30, thinking we'd be able to make the first 500. Unfortunately, we thought wrong. There were already around a thousand people there. The store did generously give everyone in line a complimentary bottle of Vitamin C water. The second 500 people were also given a free neon pink Forever 21 tank top. The third 500 received a cute Forever 21 thermal. In addition, the store promised free lip gloss for the first thousand people, though no such promise was kept.

I admit, the store was breathtakingly beautiful. Especially being one of the first thousand people to see the interior; it was awesome. There were countless numbers of rooms, all with specific themes to each. For instance, the Denim Room, Accessory Rooms, Fancy Room, Shoe Room... Gorgeous chandeliers, painted walls, and furniture matched each theme. The entire store looked like a sparkly color palette.

I understand that it was the grand opening day, so there were thousands of people, which made the lines ridiculously long. Getting inside the store took two and a half hours, fitting rooms were at least an hour, and it took another hour for check out.

Forever 21 kindly gave my friends and I a 10% off coupon with a purchase of $40. We bought our items together, so that we could use the coupon. One of my friends paid for all of us, and we would pay her back outside the store, to make checking out easier. For some reason, a mistake occurred when the cashier applied the discount. I bought two Basic Tops for 2 for $5. I didn't notice that they rang up 3 Basic Tops until we were already out of the store. Upon realizing we paid extra, my friends and I raced back to the store for a $2.50 refund. Not only did the cashier and the manager recount wrong, and insisted that I did have three shirts (which I didn't), they also huffily accused my friend of stealing a knit top, because THEY had forgotten to take off the anti-theft ink staple when they scanned the shirt. Those people didn't even look close enough to see that my friend's shirt WAS on the receipt. Once again, we were forced to wait while the cashier decided to ignore us to help other customers. Finally, the manager realized that they had made two mistakes, and apologized uncaringly. They asked for one of my basic tops to scan. However, they refused to refund our money, instead offering store credit. My friend said, whatever. We left the store a bit exasperated.

I didn't notice that something was still wrong until I was home, and hanging up my new clothes. I was missing a Basic Top. I looked in the car, hoping that it had accidentally rolled out. Then, I remembered: Forever 21 did not give me back my shirt after scanning it. Now, it is too complicated to go back and argue with them. I will call corporate instead.

Overall, this store is nice... until they make a mistake. Today, I have successfully lost about an hour just to correct their mistake alone, $2.50, and my Basic Top.