Welcome to Black Friday! The alarm went off around 3:30 AM, and I promptly turned it off. I don't remember doing it, but it *did* go off. 5:00 rolls around, and I finally woke up... damn! I missed the opening of a few stores already! Oh well, no huge loss... So, I left the hotel and picked up my daughter Diana at her house. We wander over to Office Depot, so I can replace my now broken camera (What happened? I have *NO* idea... It won't turn the dial to power on at all. No over damage anywhere, but it acts like the dial is jammed). I didn't want the "door buster deal". I wanted the Kodak Z740. Not a high-end camera by any means, but it is 5 megapixels and has 10X optical zoom... I hate digital zoom. Works for me while I look for my better DSLR). There was a line outside, since they opened at 6am. Diana and I got in line. A few minutes later, and we are all inside. We did have a few fun moments, watching the HUGE line coming from Target that was well past where we were. When 6:00 came around, WOW! They moved fast! I wanted NOTHING to do with Target this morning, especially after seeing the line.
OK... now, I am inside, over at the cameras. There are around 100 people in the store. I am literally reaching for the "Take One" tag behind the camera I want. A lady (I use the term loosely) REACHED PAST ME and grabbed ALL of the "Take One" tags for that camera (Turns out there were two tags). The following conversation ensued:
Me: "Excuse me, would you please hand me one of those?"
Her response: "No, one of these is for my daughter who is with me." (Wow... Daughter is nowhere in sight)
Me: "She isn't here. How about being nice and handing me one?"
Her: "No!" (Very rudely)
Me: "Well, that's pretty piggish of you, especially today."
Her: "That isn't piggish of me!" (At this point, others around me were agreeing with me)
The conversation ended at this point, and the rude lady walked away. Diana walked up to me, and told me she saw and heard the whole thing. She was amazed at how calm I was, and how rude the other "lady" was about grabbing past me and not being willing to part with one. So were several other people around me.
I am, at this point, looking at the other camera models on display, trying to figure out another one to buy. I wanted to take pics of my daughter and her boyfriend before I left town! Up walks an Office Depot employee, wondering why we are all over at the cameras. We explained what happened, and asked if they only had two cameras of that model. He opens the cabinet, and counts the boxes. Yep. Two. I asked him about one other model, and then the guy did something totally unexpected... He handed me one of the boxes! He hands another lady who also wanted one the other one (Not the same rude lady).
Score! I got in line, and waited 45 minutes to pay. While waiting, the first lady got to the front of the line and wanted to get her cameras. By now, I am *certain* that the managers knew what had happened. They went back and looked for the cameras. The employee said he handed them out. Nope. No cameras for the rude lady. She got a raincheck. I paid for the camera, and a few other items I decided to get while there. Got out to the car... WAHOO! I cheered for a minute. Good things come to those who wait. Karma is a wonderful thing sometimes!
