I hit a couple of Wal-Marts and other places today while I was out looking for other stuff and of course, found absolutely zero MP Starscreams.
Nobody emailed me any links to photos of the GIJoe shit so I had no idea if the stuff that was on the shelves is what anyone was looking for or not.
The highlight of my day was wanting to run out of HHGregg screaming because they had like 100 people working the floor and only 3 customers and many tried to get my attention for help. I so HATE stores where people make commissions off sales. You feel like prey to their various filthy sales pitches! I'm so not the kind of customer these places like but if they'd leave me alone to browse and look at things without "directing" me to certain products
Surprisingly, Microcenter, another store I'd rather not shop at, had staff that totally ignored me today. And that's totally fantastic.
I hit a K-Mart too.
Man oh man they are pretty much the dreggs of the retail chains these days aren't they? OSU Campus Big Lots is cleaner! And that is usually worse than the worst Family Dollars or Dollar Generals!
What's amazing is that K-Mart had few toys of any brand at all. They had about 3 Real Gear figures and that was it.
What's even more amazing is that this was what they had months ago!!!
They obviously can't be bothered with Christmas toy sales around here anymore.
I did get new tires and an oil change in the Beetle today. So at least something was accomplished on this day off.
And I think I found the bed I want to buy this weekend.
I have a few people I know that have extra MPScreams they'd be willing to sell for $55+ shipping if you're interested. If your area is anything like mine MPScream is about as likely to show up as hot blonde twins willing to fulfill my every desire. www.iaconhub.com and just do the webchat, I can't remember offhand who it was that had them but it was one of the regulars ( think either NotFastEnuff or esrz).
And yeah I hate stores that have a gazillion employees harassing you every 5 seconds. I'm one of those shoppers who tends to do research and crap beforehand so know what I want; usually if I need help from employees it's actually just finding stuff where I'm not sure where it is. Other than that leave me the fark alone. Hence why I love the internets so much :) Shop in peace....
I just play the Deaf card...
;o)
M.
Mark: Oh sure. I'll do that and have the entire School for the Deaf (a mile away) on my ass!
Totally off the store subject and on the deaf subject, as a deaf person, does it make sense to you to merge a school for the deaf and a school for the blind? Cowtown has two very well known and established schools, both very close to where I live.
There has been talk about merging them and I'm just not seeing how that could be beneficial to either group of students other than perhaps for financial stability reasons.
Hmmm... perhaps I'll try and play the blind card one day.
Then get in my car and drive off.
I hear you - we've got a hardware store nearby populated by retirees. (Trying to find that Anderson's vibe, I guess.) I cannot go in there without being 'helped' by four different employees.
(And when you finally give in to their puppy eyes they are anything but helpful... "Can I help you find something?" "Screws." "Well those are in the screw aisle, which is... this one." "Yes, yes it is.")
Great way of turning a ninety second task into a ten minute endeavour.
I had an MP Starscream once but I returned it. I had purchased it for someone else but they already found one. I'm too broke for that shit right now.
As for merging deaf and blind schools, is part of the requirements for admission that you either have your eyes gouged out or your ear drums blown?
see, i have way too much imagination and way to sick a sense of humor to hear about a conjoined blind/deaf school.
i just wanna see mixed malady roomates:
"Who's there?"
"What?"
im so going to hell
I'll just refer you to the Pryor/Wilder film, "See No Evil, Hear No Evil"
Blind people and Deaf people DEFINITELY do not mix. They hate our guts! Cos we can see...
M.
yeah, you JUST know what's gonna happen if a deaf guy kneels down to tie an errant shoelace in a busy school corridor.
'what the f...?'
*trip, thud*
For the record, I should point out I am deaf too.
One of my favourite jokes is : what happens when a deaf guy is pushed off a cliff? He screams his hands off.
Bit sick, but as a friend of the family once said: "There are only two kinds of joke: good ones and clean ones."
Good luck with the Masterpiece Screamer Nala. I was lucky to find mine ages ago - now they've all been wiped out (It's those bloody Mums/Scalpers).
These days the only TFs on the shelves are FABs, Real Gears & Robot Replicas (who don't even transform).
But there are some toyworlds around who have Landmines, Cliffjumpers & Camshafts - & have had them for a while. Sucked in you Yankees. Ha!
By the way, referring to the subject of this blog - I too remember the unwanted attention from the shop assistants when I was in New York in October.
Then an idea hit me: it could be lucrative to market a placard that you can loop round your neck, inscribed with - "SHOP ASSISTANTS: If I require your attention, I'll ask for it."
Maybe on the reverse side that you can flip over, if they didn't get you the first time, the same message is repeated but in a more, ahem, blue-collar style ;-)
Failing that, perhaps suddenly springing round into a defensive stance with mace spray at the ready, pointed in the assistant's face when approached, might work. "I'm deaf, I didn't hear you coming." Say it loud enough and you might get peace from the entire shop floor.
Tell you what though, there are some places where the service industry in the US does excel: the bars and pubs. You can sit at a table, relax, and someone will come by and take your drinks order. No matter how busy it is. I mean, unlike shops, you don't go into a pub to browse - you're there to BUY beer, and thankfully it comes to you.
Try that here in England on a Saturday night and you'll be guaranteed cheap nights out 'cos you won't get any beer. You have to GO to the bar and wait in line with all the mere mortals.
Sometimes for 20 minutes or more.
That is all.
J
Hit the Walmarts up here looking for MP Starscreams; no luck though. There's about fifty bloody leader-class Brawls, though. When are these places going to realize that people - parents especially - don't want to spend that much money on an easily-broken toy?
As to the subject of overly-helpful shop assistants... I present Black Books, a British comedy. Me and my wife have this entire speech memorized for purposes of warding off cellphone salesmen.
School for the Deaf and Blind all rolled into one? That'd make for some pretty sweet three-legged sack races...
I walked into Best Buy the other day (God only knows why) and before I got three steps in I had five people ask me if they could help me. I had the SAME person ask me three times. I feel bad for Best Buy/Wal-Mart/Target employees this time of year. They're probably SICK of people by now.