Tag: shopping

Things You See While Shopping In SoCal

I’ve been involved in more shopping over the last month than any other time in my life. I’ve been in stores of every shape and size. If it can be bought, it’s crossed our sights.

That’s given me the opportunity to look closely at the stores themselves.

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Winner of the coolest display goes to this miniature tent city from Coleman. When I first approached it I had no idea what I was seeing. Then it dawned, these were scale models.

I’d like one for Doppler, please.

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I bought a bike. Stef and I looked at a bunch of stores where bikes are sold before settling on one at Dick’s.

I walked into one specialty store, looked at the bikes hanging from the ceiling and told Stef the price wasn’t too bad.

“That’s four numbers,” she replied.

I thought the bike was a little over $200. Oops.

At one store there were bandages in a first aid kit at the base of the bicycle display!

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Finally… Maybe I’m missing something, but I thought squirrels were a scourge? We found one store with a large display of squirrel food.

Seriously? More squirrels? Pinch me.

We are in a neighborhood with a large bunny population. They are all over the place at night

It’s California. Even the wild animals are adorable.

Yes, We Have No Bananas… Actually No Strawberries

Talk about stranger in a strange land, I walked in through the exit. Then I had to ask where the carts were (outside adjacent to the door I should have used to get inside).

Helaine asked if I could head to the supermarket on my dinner break. Nothing special. She wanted strawberries, bananas and dishwashing liquid. Am I really the person you want at the grocery store?

Talk about stranger in a strange land, I walked in through the exit. Then I had to ask where the carts were (outside adjacent to the door I should have used to get inside). Instead I picked up one of the plastic baskets used by shoppers with short lists!

I like my bananas nearly ripe. Everything on display was green. I got the least green bunch of the bunch. Disappointment.

I looked for strawberries, but there were none visible. I asked a man working in the produce department where they were? He displayed the kind of anguish employees normally reserve for each other when discussing the boss’s shortcomings. He told me my eyes weren’t lying.

Exactly how many different type of Dawn dishwashing liquid do we need? Don’t they understand choices like this… choices with no right or wrong answer… only serve to slow me down?

The woman behind me in the checkout line was buying a live lobster. Maybe he ate the strawberries?

We (Now) Know If You’ve Been Bad Or Good

On Yelp’s one-to-five scale the cheap folks were a two! They had four reviews: a three, a two and two ones. Ouch.

Am I late to this game? Helaine and I were thinking of buying some furniture online (after buying some furniture locally) and the best price lost! Thanks Yelp.

On Yelp’s one-to-five scale the cheap folks were a two! They had four reviews: a three, a two and two ones. Ouch.

One unhappy customer wrote,

I see on the Better Business Bureau that their BBB accreditation has been revoked with a rating of a D+ and the BBB received 82 complaints against them just in the past 3 years!

There’s really no way for me to know if these crowd sourced reviews are legit, but how can I not take them to heart? What choice is there? Recourse is different and limited when you’re buying online.

We ended up going with an online store in Boston. The BBB says they’re an “A.”

I’m willing to pay for that piece of mind.