Retailers Can Bite Me

I think I'm done my Christmas shopping. Oh shit, I'm meeting with friends tonight and didn't get them anything. Whoops. Other than that though... done. Except for the friends I'll see after Christmas and get gifts for during Boxing week or something.

Anyway, last night involved some retail frustration.

First, I call up Downtown Camera to see if they have the lens I want in stock. They've got the cheapest local price I can find. Yup, they've got a bunch. I ask, "are you having a boxing day sale?" and they drop the price $30 right away with, "You can have it for $350 today".

Great! A co-worker is going there anyway to pick up a camera I recommended. Hell, he didn't know the store existed until I told him about it that morning. I've had pretty much all good experiences there. He gets there, and they claim there's no way my phone call happened. He gets the guy to ask around the store and nobody admits to talking to me. What the fuck? So they won't honour the price I was quoted over the phone. I tell him to forget it, that I'll fight the crowds on Boxing Day, since I don't NEED the lens for Christmas (but it would have been nice for some family pictures). I'm just glad he was already going, because if I'd trudged through the snow and cold to be called a liar, I would have been even more pissed off.

While this is going on, I'm heading over to a quirky shop in little Italy. They had a Christmas card that would be perfect for a friend of mine. Of course, this was two months ago. I didn't pick it up then, and of course, it's not there now. Waste of a trip and token... so I picked up another card for another friend. This one is entirely my fault though, so I can't be upset at anyone but myself.

Then I head to my next destination. This visit is relatively painless, except that the first person I got to help me grabbed the wrong model of what I was buying. Lucky for me, I had to go to another part of the store for something else and when I returned had a new clerk, who grabbed the right one. The first tried to correct him, but he pointed out she was wrong (I even asked for the specific model and she got it wrong... oy).

Then I have one more stop at a store that I know closes at 7. I'm across the road from it when I see them let people out and lock the door. I check my watch... sure enough, 6:53. Like hell they're closing 7 minutes early 3 days before Christmas. I knock on the door and they look over... I give the "what the fuck?!" look and they reluctantly open the door and let me in. Lucky for them, I knew EXACTLY what I was buying and it required minimal effort on their part. Still though, these last days before Christmas are crunch time and you close your store early? Fuck that!

Then I walked home past the spinning truck tires, honking horns, near-misses, and general chaos, happy I live downtown and don't have to drive in this shit.

Tonight is drinks with friends down the hall, but I'll have to at least swing by the ol' booze place for a gift for them. Then again, they just bought a new place, so maybe I can find something a bit more personal... not that I have any desire to actually shop.