Held Hostage

I went to the local big discount mart tonight to buy three things.

One was moldy and one was out of stock, but I settled for second best for both of these and then added that impulse purchase of ice cream, which I really didn’t need.

I stood in one of the two lines they had open as midnight approached and listened to the checker visit and gossip and finally come out to make a long detailed announcement about how she would have to close her register at midnight and move us all to another one.

I was one of the people who was eventually taken hostage by modern retail store policy and placed in a new line to wait some more.

It finally occurred to me that I was going to pay them for a CD player I didn’t want, a bag of not very fresh veggies, a loaf of bread and two boxes of exorbitantly priced melting ice cream treats.  And….I was going to do it in their time frame and at their convenience!

I escaped just in time.  It didn’t cost me a dime and I won’t be any fatter tomorrow either.  I came home and ordered the exact CD player I wanted, at a better price, on line.  I can wait a week for it to come.  In fact I would prefer to wait a week rather than stand in that line one more minute!

And people wonder why local stores are losing customers to the Internet.