A Christmas gift for Lightning’s Girl … that may arrive by, oh, I don’t know … Easter?

Over the past five or six years, I’ve saved up every single General Motors loyalty point I could get. Bring the car in for a repair? Get some loyalty points. Pay for another six months of SiriusXM satellite radio? Get more loyalty points. Points points points points.

Last year, when I thought I had enough to get four new tires for my Chevy Cruze, I found out that the points I acquired equated approximately $85. Four new tires for $85? Are they for a Schwinn or for a Huffy?

Well, somehow through pluck and luck (and by purchasing a new-to-me Chevrolet Volt), I finally came up with enough points to treat myself to – well, not a set of new tires, but something just as aesthetically pleasing.

The General Motors online parts store has Chevrolet Volt-branded and fitted floor mats. Front and back mats, driver side and passenger side. For 14,000 points – or $140 in non-GM-coin – I could purchase the mats and pick them up at the dealership of my choice.

I looked at the options. Ooh, here’s a nice set – jet black carpeting with blue stitching and the VOLT script. These look swank. And they’ll look swankier in my car.

I’m definitely good with this.

And I have enough loyalty points for it. What the hell. Let’s order them. It’s a Christmas present from me to me. Well, it’s for my Chevrolet Volt Premier, so it’s really a gift from me to Lightning’s Girl.

14,000 points – plus $11.20 in real cash for sales tax – and my order was placed. All I need to do now is wait until the mats arrive at DeNooyer Chevrolet, drive over, pick them up, and done is done.

The order was confirmed on Friday, December 9, at 9:53 a.m.

Sweet. Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the –

At 10:11 a.m. – less than 20 minutes after I placed my order – I received a second email from the General Motors store.

“Hello Chuck Miller – This is to inform you that at least one of your ordered products is on backorder. It will ship as soon as it is available and we will notify you with the details.”

Backorder?

Wait … no … what do you mean, “backorder?”

I looked on the website. There were items that said “Sold Out” – including other options for carpet trim that would have fit my Volt. There was no “Sold Out” block on the mats I chose. But 20 minutes after I bought them … suddenly they’re on backorder?

Now I know someone’s going to say at this point, “Well, Chuck, there’s this thing called a supply chain that’s gummed up all over the world, your mats are probably manufactured in some Chinese province and they’ll get to America when they get to America, don’t have a tantrum.”

Fine. I get it. And realistically, my only out-of-pocket cost is the sales tax. Everything else came from loyalty points.

So I’m going to bet that the mats will arrive at some point.

Now the question is … which will arrive first?

• The floor mats … or the new Indiana Jones movie?
• The floor mats … or the next Deadpool movie?
• The floor mats … or a new Boston album?
• The floor mats … or my final car payment? (Ooh, that’s a good one, Chuck)

I guess what I’m saying after all this is … I have to wait for the completion of my rewards. I mean, I waited for years to build up the points … now I have to wait for the end of the wait for the wait.

Yeah. For some reason, I can’t even enjoy the simple pleasures in life. Ugh.