Black Friday silliness
Nov. 26th, 2010 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoNanowrimo word count: 43649 words (2240 today)
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Story draft available here.
I'll proof and upload the segment in the morning. Still on target to complete the 50K in time, but I'd like to get well ahead this weekend. Oh, and by the way, I'm still $15 shy of the goal I set for sponsorship. I would be delighted if any of you could kick in a buck or two for a good cause, tax deductible in the US. Follow the "sponsor me" link above for more information, and thanks!
We had not planned to go anywhere during the Black Friday idiocy but changed our minds on the spur of the moment, since I wanted to run up to work and pick up my paycheck and since that would take us right past Tractor Supply we stopped in there. That store is never busy in my experience, but there were quite a few cars in the lot. They had in fact advertised one day specials. Gary wanted to replenish his supplies of winter bird feed, and I stopped to look at flannel shirts that were offered at half price. When we got in line at the cash registers, there was a backup, something I've never seen there before. It turned out that they were having difficulty processing credit card payments. Their connection to the processing system was so overloaded (presumably by activity in other locations) that it kept timing out at each step. Consequently, the manager was standing there and phoning someone to force each transaction through remotely. Slow as molasses, as you might expect. Still, there were only two customers ahead of us. We paid cash to save time.
While waiting in line, I noticed several cute little plush donkeys on display. They were wearing blue hoodies with the Tractor Supply logo on the front, and had been marked down to just $2.99. How could I resist? I took one with me. Here he is with a moose I received in a Harry and David box a couple of Christmases ago. Rocky the Not-Squirrel and Not-Bullwinkle the Moose. I think they make a good pair, no?
Sponsor me!Story draft available here.
I'll proof and upload the segment in the morning. Still on target to complete the 50K in time, but I'd like to get well ahead this weekend. Oh, and by the way, I'm still $15 shy of the goal I set for sponsorship. I would be delighted if any of you could kick in a buck or two for a good cause, tax deductible in the US. Follow the "sponsor me" link above for more information, and thanks!
We had not planned to go anywhere during the Black Friday idiocy but changed our minds on the spur of the moment, since I wanted to run up to work and pick up my paycheck and since that would take us right past Tractor Supply we stopped in there. That store is never busy in my experience, but there were quite a few cars in the lot. They had in fact advertised one day specials. Gary wanted to replenish his supplies of winter bird feed, and I stopped to look at flannel shirts that were offered at half price. When we got in line at the cash registers, there was a backup, something I've never seen there before. It turned out that they were having difficulty processing credit card payments. Their connection to the processing system was so overloaded (presumably by activity in other locations) that it kept timing out at each step. Consequently, the manager was standing there and phoning someone to force each transaction through remotely. Slow as molasses, as you might expect. Still, there were only two customers ahead of us. We paid cash to save time.
While waiting in line, I noticed several cute little plush donkeys on display. They were wearing blue hoodies with the Tractor Supply logo on the front, and had been marked down to just $2.99. How could I resist? I took one with me. Here he is with a moose I received in a Harry and David box a couple of Christmases ago. Rocky the Not-Squirrel and Not-Bullwinkle the Moose. I think they make a good pair, no?
no subject
Date: 2010-11-27 11:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 12:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-27 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 12:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 12:00 pm (UTC)Awww, and they are indeed holding hooves. One of my Eeyores seems enamoured with a little lamb and spends most of his time snugged up close to him.
We paid cash to save time.
Wasn't there a Visa commercial that showed a cash payment stopping the rhythm of the transactions?
no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 04:25 pm (UTC)I don't know about TV ads, I've been seriously out of touch with television for decades now, and totally cut off since the digital "conversion" in 2009. There is no real digital reception where we live, and I refuse to pay for a satellite system since we just don't watch the stuff anyway.
However, it seems that Tractor Supply was still having problems on Saturday, and not just locally. I saw others complaining about it as far away as Indiana. They must have overloaded their corporate network, or else their credit card service provider was swamped by the Black Friday idiocy.