Musically Challenged But Gracious
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at 07:29PM 
I have some friends who take their shopping to extreme levels and they are in it for the win. When on the hunt for something one of their little sweetie pies just has to have they use a strategic and relentless approach to bagging the booty. I don’t possess that kind of a competitive spirit and overall the family has been cooperative in not jumping on every trend that comes along, demanding the item. Which is a good thing because I don’t do Black Friday shopping or any kind of shopping that requires early bird rising or long lines.
This year, however our mutual desire for Wii Rock Band just about drove me into competitive shopping territory for the first time. This ended up being not such an easy item to find at a reasonable price. I had a similar difficulty last year in pursuit of the basic Wii gaming system and turned to a trendy buddy of ours in Chicago to find the thing with his stealthy prowess. Quickly I was reminded of the reason I don’t like to get caught up in all that brouhaha. I tried to do the smart shopping route so I hunted the thing down online, found one at a Wall Mart about a half hour from my house. Not too bad, right? I went back to Electronics, talked to a sales associate and she discovered one had just been returned. Fantastic! She loaded the large box into my cart and I continued on to pick up some groceries before I checked out.
As I was driving that buggy around the store I was thinking how Princess #1 had wanted to play guitar way back when. My youngest fancies herself quite the songstress and they all get a kick from Karaoke every now and then. And me? I must confess that although I have no musical talent I am particularly fascinated with drummers. Did you ever see this on a questionnaire? If I could play ANY instrument really well I would play_________. It's much more sophisticated to say something like “I’d like to be a concert pianist”. “The Cello” “ Classical Guitar”. Me, I would be a big bad drummer. Ever since I saw Sheila E at a live concert doing her amazing drum stuff I’ve been hooked into this off beat love of percussion. I sometimes can be seen playing the steering wheel like a drum, when stuck in traffic. I was ecstatic about the whole Broadway Stomp phenomenon and Riverdance. I’m a total sucker for the cheesy movie Drumline. Suffice it to say my lovely family has many talents, but we didn’t score in the musical ability category. So Rock Band will be about as close to being on stage as any of us will probably ever get.
Finally arriving at check out I quickly had all of my groceries rung up and the nice cashier came around to scan my big box of Rock Band I was feeling very lucky to have found.
Unfortunately her scan kept getting the message “purchase blocked”. I’ve never encountered this before and neither had she. The chain of command was followed to try to get to the root of the problem. If this had been ANY other item I would have lost patience and politely told them to never mind. So the manager from electronics calls our now backed up line and relays the message that “corporate has put a hold on this item as it is being advertised for sale starting sunday”. Well, it’s friday, it’s in my buggy and I’ll buy it for full price. Isn’t possession 9/10ths of the law? No, at least at Wall Mart it is not. Then we go through another information gathering cycle. Can they hold one for me? No. Then EXACTLY when can I come back and buy the blasted thing? Are we talking 12:01 Sunday morning since this is a 24 hour store and we’ve already established there are only 9 units in this store?
This is where being a nice person just doesn’t pay off but I just couldn’t bring myself to pitch a fit. I had already been politely assertive and that didn’t work. I actually felt very sorry for the young cashier, she was visibly upset and thought I was being treated unfairly. I felt like cussing, but I always feel bad when people take out their frustrations on the employee having to enforce an unfortunate corporate decision. It's dreadful to witness the carnage at the customer service desk for the airlines when there's a problem with flights and I don't understand running a waitress to death because she delivered a burger with lettuce and tomato (as opposed to the way it was ordered without those items). JUST PICK THE DARN LETTUCE OFF for goodness sakes.
Defeated, I returned home and complained incessantly before accepting the whole situation for what it now was, an opportunity to use my wily temptress ways to get my husband to agree to go back to Wall Mart at the appointed time to bag the goods.
Drummers, Wily Temptress, shopping
Reader Comments (2)
You know, for a long time Walmart was Walsmart. But no longer. I think their failings are finally catching up to them. And I understand that you've got your heart set on it but . . . maybe you can get it at Amazon?
I simply deplore the notion that I must stand in line for hours on end to give someone else my money. If you want my business, make it easy, folks. Blockbuster never got it, and Walmart isn't getting it either. Many friends of mine, as do I, avoid Walmart altogether, despite Walmart's "low costs," simply because we don't have the time to wait in line to buy these bargains, or put up with the kind of service that is typical of that which you experienced.
Right now, a retailer's mantra ought to be "peace on earth, build good will with consumers." But . . . like I said, Walmart has lost its Walsmartness.
Aaargh. You must have been so frustrated! Kudos for your patience and for keeping your cool.
We buy all of our Wii stuff on ebay. Sometimes we pay a tiny bit more for it than we would in the store but....we know we will get it. I asked for and got Rock Band for my birthday (which makes me the equivalent of my 10 year old son...but I'm okay with that). It is the freaking BOMB. So fun....good luck...and Happy Holidays Mayor!