Listen to Dad, or Pay $1600 for Spaghetti Sauce

My dad taught long ago to always check the contents when buying something in a box, especially something expensive. He was right, as he has been about so many things: The New York Times reports today that instead of a $1600 camcorder, a couple found spaghetti sauce in the box.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The Rittenbergs planned to shoot family movies with a new camcorder. They may have to settle for a family pasta dinner, instead. The couple paid about $1,600 for a camcorder at a Best Buy store in the St. Louis suburb of Ellisville last week. They said when they opened the box, they found something they hadn't pictured: a jar of Classico pasta sauce where the camera should have been.

''The only thing I thought was, 'you've got to be kidding me,''' Melisa Rittenberg, 36, of the southeast Missouri town Perryville, said.

Best Buy is still deciding what to do.