So last night Earl and I went out and did what I sincerely hope is the last of the holiday shopping experience of 2010. Naturally, we will probably shop like crazy after the holidays, because that’s what we do for our anniversary (our commitment ceremony anniversary is Sunday), but hopefully by then the Christmas carols playing over the speaker have come to an end and once again there will be nothing but an uptempo ditty designed to get your heart racing over the latest sale assaulting our ears.
Phew I write a lot of words in a sentence. I’ve come a long way since “See Jack run.”. But I digress.
Last night we went to the local Target. I hinted at stopping at K-mart but Earl gave me the “really?” look (in a butch way, Brett) so we opted for Target. The place was a bit of a madhouse. I will never understand why retailers don’t have all of their registers open at this time of yea, because if you’re not going to max out number of checkout lanes opened during the holiday rush, you’re never going to max them out and quite frankly that’s fiscally irresponsible. Plus it makes me cranky. Why buy register 16 if you’re not going to use it?
One of the things that bothers me a little bit about Target is the outdated practice of making you pay for electronics items in the electronics department. They have the technology to tie everything together inventory wise, in a database that was probably free. They also have the technology to make sirens go off, doors close and lights flash if you have something you haven’t paid for. They also have the technology to make your cart wheels lock up and refuse to turn if you go in an unauthorized area with said cart. Why then do I have to pay for an electronic gadget, the size of deck of cards, at the electronics counter? I had to stand behind a woman who was trying to buy a digital camera. She wanted to know if it had wi-fi for her cell phone and if it came with ink. I just wanted to buy the (insert electronic stocking stuffer here) and get on with my shopping excursion before I lost Earl, because he has a habit of running wildly through the store with a cart as soon as I get out of his sight. I can turn to pick up a bag of kitty litter off the shelf and go to turn back to put it in the cart and he’s gone off somewhere on the other side of the store like frozen foods or by the guns.
I don’t know if the woman found the ink for her camera.
One other thing I noticed is that today’s shopper has no idea on how to navigate the checkout lanes that are two deep. They are designed so you can progress through them without having to mingle with other lanes of waiting people.
Perhaps they need to put up gates.
