October 28, 2003...11:46 pm
Colorado: on a constant delay
Today’s noteworthiness:
So I go to get my CO license at long last. The woman who assists me is 43, dyed blonde, wearing 14 rings on her hands and a hairpiece that consists of tiny braids cascading or a bun of real hair she has fastened underneath it. I know she’s 43 b/c she tells me. I also know that she is dressing like Jeannie for Halloween.
Then b/c we’re pressed for time, we go to Wendy’s for lunch. No sooner do we sit down than some English-As-A-Second-Or-Possibly-Third-Language weirdo starts walking through the restaurant carrying about a dozen windchimes hanging from a metal bar. So he comes up to our table, tells us his name and that he’s selling this crap for his church. I take a breath to say, “We’re eating here!” but Hawk says, “We’re not interested.” And if the guy were a telemarketer, that’s the point when Hawk would have slammed down the phone. So the guy then proceeds to make this clatter all through the restaurant, pestering every single table (and it was just after noon so it was pretty full). I mean, I enjoy the sound of windchimes, but not a dozen sets and not all at the same time and not while I’m trying to eat my #7 w/ side salad.
So our plan is to drive to Best Buy in Fort Collins. As you may recall, we got burned by a lack of service there before (camcorder shopping) but we wanted the R.E.M. CD and the Sims EP, both released today, and the Indiana Jones DVDs. Neither the R.E.M. CD nor the Sims EP was out. So I ask one of the four (yes four) employees standing around a computer doing nothing where the EP is. So a guy w/ the most bloodshot eyes I’ve ever seen looks it up. Well it’s out, it should be here, they have 8 people who’ve reserved copies but they haven’t received the shipment. “But it was due on Monday (ie: yesterday).
So we return to Whazzatsmell and to Tar-zhay. Nothing unusual there. Hawk found the R.E.M. CD but they didn’t have the Sims EP (not unusual — Target never has that stuff on Release Day). But there’s a game store next door, so I head on over. No EP. So I say to the guy, “Today is the release date.” He says: “Well that means the day it leaves the factory so we won’t get it until Thursday.”
Bullshit. Release date always means “on the shelf.” Except here.
I’ve not mentioned this either but I think it’s related: we have two magazine subscriptions: Newsweek and EW. Newsweek used to arrive every Tuesday; EW came on Friday, sometimes Saturday. That’s also the day of the week the issue is on stands. Here we don’t get Newsweek until Friday and EW not until Monday or Tuesday. And the issue still hits stands on the same day! So I could go buy the latest Newsweek today but as a subscriber I won’t get my copy until the end of the week. That’s fubar, man.
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