ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Holy snapping duck shit AND Jesus titty fucking Christ!
Yes, my shopping trip this morning warrants bringing out both the big guns. I don’t like shopping at the best of times and definitely don’t like it unless I have a specific shopping agenda. Wandering aimlessly through shopping centres is just plain annoying and not high on my favourite ways to spend time. There is of course an exception to every rule and that would be for browsing in bookshops which is the only time when shopping without intent is perfectly acceptable. But as per usual I’m already off topic.
I went to Carindale shopping centre this morning with a mission – to purchase a copy of Zelda Twilight Princess for the Wii. I had seen it advertised at Big W for $68 which those in the know (Mr K gaming weenie extraordinaire) had told me was a good price. Naturally before I set off, I searched around online to see if I could avoid the shops altogether and wait for someone to bring it to me instead… but alas I didn’t find a copy for under $94 online. So off to the shops I went.
Advertising having done it’s magic my first port of call was Big W – where I spent 15 minutes or so searching the disorderly racks looking for it before asking at the ‘service counter’ where I was informed that they were out of stock. Bugger.
Undeterred, I marched over to JB Hi-Fi where I probably spent another 10 mins or so looking for it before asking for assistance, waited around for their ‘Games Specialist’. When he turned up he told me they had a copy (and he disappeared out back) which when he waved it in front of me turned out to be $97.
Okay… off to Target then. More hunting for the title on the shelves and shelves of Wii stuff (did I mention that when I hunt for something when everything is out of order I often HAVE to start alphabetizing thiings to put them into some semblance of order – I can’t help it… those dump bins full of cheap DVDs at JB HiFi really make me twitch). Target didn’t seem to have it so again I harrassed the slack jawed dopey 17 yr old chickie working behind the counter who said she didn’t think they had it.
Righty-o what about Myer…. more time wasted looking all around the games area (ooh,,, Lego Batman looks pretty cool but it’s not on the agenda) hunting, hunting…. but nope. No Zelda there either. Power walk out past the homewares so I don’t get distracted by Villeroy and Boch candlesticks or something equally unnecessary.
DJs…??? What are the odds it will be affordable there either. But I am nothing if not tenacious when focused on a task and dutifully wandered up to DJs too where I found a copy for $104. Shit this was getting worse not better.
Getting ever more desperate next I tried EB Games. Having decided that the recipient probably wouldn’t care if it was preowned I thought they might have a second hand copy at a reasonalbe price. Yeah right. No preowned copies and the new one was $94…. uhhh… no thanks. He said he’d price match other stores, but only if those other stores had them in stock blah blah blah thanks for fuck all.
Alright by this stage I was getting increasingly agitated (and my back reminding me why I hate wandering around the stores) so I decided to have a breather and found a seat so I could jump on my iPhone and check the K-Mart catalogue online (which I hadn’t thought of before leaving the house) and also looked up Game Dude down at Springwood and a couple of other little places that I thought might stock it. But nothing. Couldn’t find it anywhere.
I trudged back to Big W having pretty much looped around the entire bloody centre by now to check their catalogue and see they offered a ‘Raincheck’ on the item. So I grabbed a catalogue and dejectedly went back into the Home Entertainment section where the same woman who had ‘helped’ (and I use the term with no exactitude whatsoever) me earlier was standng around doing very little. I say to the the useless sales chickie that I’ve searched the entire centre all morning (yes it was about 2 hours since I was in Big W originally) with no success and enquired if there was any way I could get a copy ordered in? or could they they take my phone number and call me if they got more copies? or could we call other stores or something? anything… help me out here lady! Please!!
Then some pimple faced geekboy who I hadn’t initially noticed pipes up and asks "What were you looking for?" and I in an exasperated tone replied "Zelda and the damned Twilight Princess or something." He goes "Oh" then reaches for a drawer and pulls out a copy of Zelda and the fucking Twilight Princess from a stack of about 8 of them and says with a smile "Here you go."
Breathe, two, three, four… mentally I’ve just attacked them with a pricing gun… but instead…
Original useless sales chickie has the good grace to look embarrassed. Pimple face kid takes my Visa and swiftly rings up the purchase while I lecture both of them about perhaps putting some fuckinng stock on the fucking display shelves! ARGGGGHHHH!!!!
And the worst of it… it wasn’t even my fucking shopping in the first place! I was sent out by Mr K on behalf of Mother in Law #1 to buy it for her to give to the Small Child for Xmas. So that’s it. I’m not doing anymore shopping for anyone else ever again, and I’m certainly not going to spend my entire day trying to save SOMEONE ELSE some money… you can all go do your own damned shopping in future.
.
