With company coming and too few sleeping options available, I bought what should have been a nice air bed the other day, picking it up at store on my way to work in the early morning hours. When I got it home, after a long day at the office, I was stunned to find it had been not so gently used.

I'm grateful it was a self-inflating mattress, so at least I hadn't handled it much. And I didn't use my mouth to inflate it. Ugh. I'll spare you the details, but the thing was a biohazard. And to complete the picture, the cloth cover had been ripped and was "glued" down with a wad of gum. Lovely.

I was livid. I believe I had every reason to expect that the bed I had purchased would be pristine and ready to use.

I knew, though, that this would be awkward, because I'd be returning clearly abused, nasty-looking merchandise. Not only was I being robbed of time I didn't have for an errand I didn't want, but someone was bound to think I had done the abusing — which made me even more mad.

I called ahead, and the manager told me they'd exchange it for the same item, which sounds reasonable. But when we got to the store, there was no same item left. And the customer-service guy didn't want to give me my money back so I could go to another store and get another one. They don't, he told me, accept returns of air beds that are not in pristine condition. This one was miles away from that.

Well, apparently, they do. How that one was allowed to get back on the shelf and into my life is a testament to that fact. And it's avoidable, but it requires action on the part of the store.

It especially bothers me that it was not an isolated incident. Periodically, we have to return damaged stuff that should never have been sold to get the item we thought we were buying. And it's getting tiresome. The worst ever was buying a mobile for my newborn and opening the box at home to find someone had taken the mobile out and stuffed the box with garbage, then resealed it so its weight was about right.

I am willing to bet that we're not the only ones experiencing this unsatisfactory shopping experience. But if you ever want to create a stir, open an air mattress or other item in the store and inspect it. That's seriously frowned upon. I'm thinking they need a table by the door where we can lay out our merchandise and see what's missing, what's damaged, what's dirty before we ever leave the property. And how sad is that?

I told the clerk to give me my money back or I'd raise a ruckus. The receipt clearly showed I had bought the bed just that morning. No one could have trashed the thing that thoroughly in so short a time. But what if I had bought it ahead and waited until the weekend to set it up?

I'm sure the store feels like it was the victim, because it had to eat the cost of the merchandise.

They set themselves up. It would have taken 10 seconds when the item was returned the first time to ask what's wrong with it, then open the box to see if there was a problem. I'd pay money to see the face of a person returning such an item if that happened. They rely on laziness and lack of interest to get away with their scam. The humiliation might even discourage such behavior. At the least, it would keep garbage from being resold.

Stores need shoppers to survive. They should do their part and not send us home with an armload of trash.

Deseret News staff writer Lois M. Collins may be reached by e-mail at lois@desnews.com. Follow her on Twitter at loisco.