Then I headed out on my brave mission to find the elusive Nintendo Wii.
I pulled into Gamestop and barely beat another woman into the store. We both knew we were in competition before our feet hit the pavement.
I flew thru the door and approached the counter with her hot on my heels.
"Did you get that shipment of Wii's yet?" I asked with my new Stephen King novel in hand. (I came prepared to wait.)
"We did. I have one left."
I was thrilled. I have been trying to get one of these god forsaken electronic whiz boxes for over a week. Yanno, ya do what ya gotta do to see the smile of happy children on X-mas morn.
But nothing is ever that easy, now is it?
Before I could quick draw my credit card, my nemesis, (clearly an Ivana Trump wannabe) starts in with her argument.
"I called ahead! I was in here last night! YOU SAID 10 am, and its only 9:13! My husband walked in the door before SHE DID! He was just waiting for me!
"This lady asked first. Sorry." The clerk shrugged.
Ivana was ready to go to the mat with me, and it was clear the men watching were titillated with expectation of the foreboding cat fight.
Sorry to disappoint, but I was just not in the mood.
"You can have it. I'll come back another time. Merry Christmas." I said as I backed away from the register and left the store. The looks on their faces were priceless. You would think they had never heard of the spirit of giving.
I'm not gonna tell this to my son, but you know what, even if he gets a rain check on Christmas, and we don't get the darned thing until later, well, so be it. The spirit of Christmas is much more important to me than frenzied consumerism. If my boy has to be patient so that I can avoid being manipulated by some corporate marketing scheme, well, I guess that's the price I will have to pay for my principles.
So, I goes on across to The Wallmart. (Yea, even I bend my principles on occasion) I figured they might have gotten a Friday morning shipment too.
No good deed goes unrewarded right?
Hmmph.
I found a crowd of about twenty people in the electronics section like vultures, waiting for the boxes to be wheeled out from the back.
"Sorry. No Wii's came on the truck today folks."
I went out to my car, only to discover I was the victim of a parking lot hit and run.
Life lesson for today: No good deed goes unpunished.
My hubby said "I can't believe you let that woman intimidate you! That's not like you."
"I was not intimidated. It was a matter of principle."
"Oh, so it's all YOUR fault. If you would have been a prick, we would have a Wii and your car would not have gotten smashed up."
"Thanks honey."
"You should blog about that."
"A Christmas lesson?"
"Yup. Be a prick cause good gals finish last." He Chided.
"By the way, our deductable is five hundred dollars." (Laughter stops.)
Merry flippin X-Mas everybody.
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12 comments:
Oh Kell, I cannot help but think that you will be blessed, even without the Wii, whatever that is.
See I see it this way, you are kind,and you are a bigger person than the chick who was ranting about the gizmo being hers, and blat blat blat, about her husband being there first, and her calling ahead, she got her coveted gizmo because you are a good person who knows what’s really important, and it aint no Nintendo, that’s for sure.
I know, how you feel though, I’ve got a kid who wants an X box, not the new 360, he wants the old one, and I’ll probably try to wrangle it for him even if it means going without a few groceries and a new winter coat for me, because I know that he’s a good kid and that’s all he’s really asked for. Plus he can trade games with his older brother--brother has his own pad and his x box lives with him, because there’s no way I’d buy another one of those boxes to put in the same house.
I am so bummed about your car getting smashed, that really sucks butt. You may be able to get the underpaid folks at Wal-mart to look through their security tapes to see whose license plate hit your car though. It’s worth and ask and a look see.
Big huge frappin hugs, and love too, Lori
http://g-o-b-shite.blogspot.com/2006/12/just-couple-of-things.html
I see we are birds of a feather. LOL
Thanks Lori. You are a dear.
I'm sorry about the car thing, Kelly. But I am proud of you for not giving into the spirit of competition. "We must be the change we want to see in the world"- Ghandi. You were the change! If more people chose peace, the world would be a much better place.
Hey Kelley, I was introduced to the Wii today, so now I know what it is. I’ve got to get out more, maybe. Samps was pretty much in awe with the system, and for gamers I have to say it’s not a bad deal. That sucker can play all kinds of stuff, including the games that Samps has now with his game cube gizmo.
Pretty impressive doo hicky.
And of course there aren't any to be had.
You know I loathe shopping, but Samps and I had fun looking at all the gadgets.
Xx, Lori
I called Nintendo and got the scoop direct:
they are rolling out 4 million Wii's before Christmas, mostly to the U.S.
Because demand is higher than expected, the speculators (folks wanting to make a buck) are buying them up and reselling them on ebay.
If you can find one in the store, the price is 250 dollars.
Check ebay and they are going for 600.
But the speculators wont care after Christmas, becaue the demand will drop, so on Dec 25, there will be plenty available in the stores.
Happy Shopping!
I think you taught the woman and others there a valuable lesson. I am proud of you. I would not have known what to do, I hate conflicts like that. This is the reason I love blogging. You helped me to remember a part of myself that I had forgotten about, we get so cynical as we get older. You are awesome Kelley!
Kel, you did the noble thing. This is why I'm proud to call you my friend.
Oh man, that sucks about your car being hit-&-run Kel! I can relate to the "no good deed going unpunished" philosophy; that's what seems to happen to me ALL THE DAMN TIME!!!
My son is begging for a Wii but I'm not about to enter the fray; we'll see how the cards fall AFTER 12/25...
Happy friggin' holidays honey!
Actually, the whole story was a good lesson in how to handle jerks like that woman...however, I loved how you stopped laughing after you mentioned the 500 dollar deductible...you are a priceless writer...oh, should I have said the word priceless??
I do admire it when a person takes the high road.
That hit and run could have happened anyplace. you still followed your light, that's all that matters.
Right on Kelley Bell. You did the right thing. That woman made a real ass out of herself.
Have you ever considered she may have been the one that hit and ran?
No, she was in the parking lot across the street.
the cops got video tape of the guy in a black crew cab pick up truck hitting my car as he tried to park.
Unfortunatly, he did not have a licence plate on the front of his truck, and the video did not get a view of the back.
So, Im out 800 smackeroos!
Also, we went with the x-box instead of the wii.
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