Woke up this morning with so much motivation. Wheeeee! Only slept a few hours, but wanted to jump on our list ASAP, before this awesome motivation disperses.
Daughter woke up at 7:30 which meant we had until 9:30 before she'd need to nap. But, our destinations didn't open until 9:00. So, at 8:55, we were in the car. Go us. First, we stopped by the Thrift Store to pick up our consignment check, and then we reloaded ourselves into the car to drive about 4000' to the Commissary.
Oh look, the Case Lot Sale is today. Awesome. It'll be crazy, heh. Oh well. All we need is cream and eggs and a giftcard. Mostly the giftcard.
We parked further away than normal and walked through the canopied cases of discounted instant foods - Kraft Mac n Cheese, Yakisoba bowls, Chef Boyardi ravioli, pretty much everything we don't buy. So, we strolled into the commissary - which was oddly dim and unoccupied.
Hmm, well most people are probably raiding the sale, I reasoned and proceeded to the dairy section.
"Excuse me! Excuse me! You know we're not open until 9:30?"
"Oh. No, I didn't realize that." I blinked, then smiled my least-threatening smile. "Ok, I'll wait."
"Alright," that employee smiled back and returned to stacking yogurt.
Not twenty feet later:
"Ma'am? Ma'am? The registers don't open until 9:30--"
"Oh yes, she just told me - I thought you opened at 9:00," I began to explain.
"Not for a long time, we haven't opened at 9:00!"
"Oh, ok - well, my mistake."
"There won't be anyone to ring you up!" She was very distressed.
I reassured her, "It's fine - I'll just wait until 9:30. That's only a few minutes."
She left, and I wandered slowly down the chip aisle, musing about all the preservatives per square foot. It was 9:21 a.m. There were now five other shoppers, who had made the same mistake as I had. We all exchanged mildly amused looks and loitered, trying to seem cooperative and harmless.
"Miss? MISS!" A new, frantic employee, was suddenly in front of me. "You're NOT supposed to be here! We're not open yet!"
"Oh, I'm sorry," I apologized again. "I thought you opened at 9:00. I guess you can't ring me up yet, but I'll just wait."
"NO!" She went bug-eyed. "You need to leave, right now. Leave the store, please!"
I blinked again, confused. "But, it's 9:23-"
"Ma'am, you need to leave the building right now."
"Uhm, ok - may I leave my cart?"
She flounced away.
I decided she was cranky because she'd probably been up all night. So, I left my cart, and headed towards the door, joining the herd of other displaced shoppers. We arrived at the exit - and it wouldn't open. Clearly, the sensors weren't awake yet. Probably they wouldn't work until 9:30. HA! We tried another door. Still no success. Now it was funny. The employees were twitching, and we couldn't escape. Not our fault. Teehee.
9:25 a.m.
We finally were escorted out the fourth door - a "Do not exit!" door, what's more. We lingered outside in the sun, while the glaring employees guarded the entrance. I stayed on the perimeter of the now Black-Friday-like crowd, and priced out the Rootbeer and Cream Soda cases. $3 for 48 cans? Hmm, maybe I will buy some of these. Pause. Maybe this is all a plot to make us shop the Case Lot Sale--!
"Ok, you can come inside now." Begrudgingly, they let us walk back to our carts.
There was an issue ringing up my purchases. The register froze. Daughter started crying; it was naptime. A manager came over to reset the register. Maybe it still hadn't woken up yet either, like the door sensors.
It was 9:41. I heaved our case of Root Beer into my trunk. Everyone in the car. I drove home, loudly sing-songing to keep my Little One awake for the last mile. Got home. Put her in bed. Put a PSA on Facebook to notify my neighbors of the Case Lot Sale. Unloaded groceries.
... Realized I had forgotten to buy the giftcard.
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