03.06.06
3:07 a.m.
reason 5,440,234 why I hate wal-mart
I didn�t trust my better judgment today, and I paid for it.I wanted a new digital camera. I�ve wanted to start taking photos and learn more about photography since my first semester in school. I signed up for an intro to photography course, but I was waitlisted and never got into the class.
Anyway, I had finally settled on the Canon PowerShot A520. It�s nothing too fancy, but nice enough that I can learn on it. At least that�s what my best friend tells me, and I trust his judgment. (Judgment has no e in the middle, and it�s really upsetting me that I keep spelling it judgement.) And for the record, just because I like asking questions doesn�t mean I�m questioning you or your opinion.
Unfortunately EVERY damn store in town was sold out of this particular camera, and I�m impatient when I decide I want something. So, even though I was completely willing to pay $20 more not to have to resort to shopping at an evil, evil place; it didn�t work. I�m a hypocrite for even calling them to see if they had the camera in stock, but it was a lapse in judgment.
I called several Wal-Mart stores, and only one store had the camera in stock. I told them to hold it, and I�d be there in 15 minutes to pick it up.
I�ve done a lot of things in my life, but I�ve never regretted anything.
I regret that moment.
I drove the 20 miles to this particular Wal-Mart, and rushed straight in to the photo section to grab the camera and get out of there before any of the trashiness rubbed off on me. I get back there, and to my amazement, they had the camera sitting there waiting for me, and they were all very nice. I paid and made a beeline back out to my car.
Thank god, I opened the box in my car to see the camera. Um, except there wasn�t a fucking camera in the box.
Immediately my heart started pounding and I felt light headed. It takes all my strength to venture into Wal-Mart at all, let alone in the middle of a Sunday with 20,000 other people there. I double checked the box again just to make sure it really wasn�t there. It wasn�t.
I grabbed the receipt and the camera and headed back into the store. The line at the customer service desk was so pathetically long that I stood in it for 15 seconds before I decided I couldn�t handle standing there for another 45 minutes. I walked straight back to the photo department and spoke with a completely different cashier than was there 10 minutes earlier. The girl I dealt with was on lunch, and seeing as no one would believe that they could�ve sold me a $200 empty camera box, I had to argue with 3 different people � including the store manager.
I felt like a complete ass and every customer in the department was staring at me like I was a thief. Which is basically what the manager called me.
The girl came back from lunch (30 minutes later), and said she might have sold me the display box � she didn�t check it before giving it to me because �it felt like there was a camera inside�.
Luckily, they decided that it must�ve been the scenario because, obviously, they couldn�t find the display box.
I was given a very terse apology, a new box � including the camera, and sent on my way.
I haven�t explored the camera yet. I promised myself that I couldn�t do anything with it until my room was clean and organized and my calculus homework was done. I�ve accomplished neither, so it still sits in its box.
It�s calling me, but I can�t break the promise I made to myself. It�s like an OCD ritual to me or something.
God, I�m so fucked up.