At lunch I needed to go fill up the car with gas, so the low fuel light wouldn’t come on while Donna was on the way to or way back from her radiation treatment. Donna just hates that light. I do too because she reminds me that it is one of my few jobs to keep the car adequately supplied with the necessary provisions and that light is a shiny reminder of my failure. It is not like I am ever far away from a place to refuel, there is a station at every other corner in town, but I always seem to find a reason to avoid it. So I popped out and ran just down the street from work to a station and filled up ($30 worth at $3.02 a gallon.) I used the lane marked Express Pay for people who use credit cards only. Swiped the card and pumped the gas and then my least favorite thing in the whole world happened, that’s right, the LED display said “RECEIPT INSIDE.” %$#&
I was supposed to mail out a box to someone today. I didn’t go at lunch because of the other above mentioned errand, so I stopped at the Post Office on the way home from work. The line was out the door. I didn’t have time, so I’ll try again tomorrow.
We went out tonight to get a couple gift cards for a co-worker’s upcoming wedding. First stop was Lowes where Donna’s department had decided to get their group gift from. Snagged a card near the front of the store and got in line. There were only two check-outs open and both lines were pretty long, so we picked one and waited a bit. It was moving so slow that the word glacial wouldn’t cover it. Peeking down the line you could see the trouble, the cashier couldn’t scan anything on the first or second swipes and if it happened on the third try she was lucky. We put the card down and exited the store in a huff.
We got back in the car and drove across the street to Target to get a card from us personally. When we walked by the check-out area there were only two lines open and they were pretty long. So we picked some greeting cards that we needed and headed back to the cashiers. We were about to leave here too when they opened a 10 items or less line that we managed to get in at the number 2 spot.
We zipped back across the street to Lowes to see if the lines had died down. Unfortunately we thought they were open until 10 PM, but Monday through Thursday it is only 9:00 PM. That point was driven home by the click of the front doors as the red vested employee closed them while we were still 100 feet away.
The FRS lost to Cleveland and the Yankees beat Toronto, so what didn’t happen last night, did 24 hours later, the Red Sox are percentage points out of the division lead.
Not a lot went right for me today, but at least my spouse didn’t die. I’m so sorry Lillian, we will all miss Bob and I know all the grief that all of us who knew him are feeling put together can’t equal what you are going through now…
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 300
I hate when the receipt is inside. That defeats the whole purpose of pay at the pump.
Kind of defeats the whole purpose of their “Express Lane” service too.
This is why I refuse to shop at Wal-Mart, Lowe’s or Target anymore. Yes, their prices are lower, but my time and aggravation are not worth the savings realized by shopping at these hellholes. There is a growing sentiment among my friends (and hopefully elsewhere) who are in agreement on this point. As far as the gas pump receipts are concerned, I think you will find that most of these facilities have air-conditioned stores where you come out of the heat and are accosted by displays of soft drinks and cold beer while you are getting your receipt. Can you say “marketing ploy?”
I just know that those pumps are programmed to, at regular intervals, display that message just to get you to come inside as you mentioned. They have got to be feeling the reduced sales from the pay at the pump.