Wednesday, December 26, 2007

How to achieve success on Boxing Day

[Note to American readers: Boxing Day in Canada is kind of like Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) in the U.S. - it is HUGE! Most of the electronic stores open at 5 or 6am and regular stores also open early - the savings are HUGE.]

All times are in the A.M. as in MORNING.
6:00, alarm goes off
6:20, out the door
6:30, arrive at Wal-mart. Shit! it's supposed to be open 24 hours but not opening until 7am. I tried to confirm the times last night but website said 24 hours and no message on phone. Will need to make note of this for next year.
6:32, drive to Future Shop - yep, it's busy, I'm not standing in line. Back to Wal-mart.
6:45, standing in line at Wal-mart - #34 in the queue. I am standing in line with 80 people when the doors open. 40 are teenage boys and their fathers (presumably looking for cheap video games). The other 40 appear to be small business owners as I later see them with two or THREE carts full of toilet paper, Dish washing liquid and Rice Krispie squares (I didn't ask).

7:00, Through the door. Find a guy in a blue vest looking overwhelmed at the mass of people entering the Electronics department - show him the cut-out ad of the Flash Drive that Todd wants. I taped the ad onto my 8 1/2 X 11 'master shopping page', ask "WHERE IS THIS?"
7:02, Yippee - got the 8GB flash drive for $50
7:05, I can't find the next item on my list. Find a guy in a blue vest wandering through toys - show him the cut-out ad for remote control off-road monster trucks taped to my 'master shopping page'. Ask "WHERE IS THIS?"
7:06 He has no idea. Wal-mart can't find the remote control off-road monster trucks (only $14!). Wal-mart now has 4 people looking for the trucks... I have to keep showing them the ad (T.G. for my master shopping page with the actual ads!)
7:10, Wal-mart staff have found the trucks! - they were forgotten in the loading dock.
7:15, have the R/C trucks, now I only need a few groceries and toiletries... maybe I need toilet paper, too????
7:30, HOW CAN WAL-MART ONLY HAVE 2 LANES OPEN ON BOXING DAY????
7:50, back at the car, zooming to The Bay (a big department store, kinda like Macy's)

7:58, #8 in the queue at The Bay.
8:00, they have crappy stuff here. Why am I here? Make note for next year.
8:20, wandering the mall.

8:40, #1 in line at the Calendar Club - buy the 3 calendars the kids and I selected then hid on Dec. 24th.

8:45, driving to London Drugs (this contains a huge electronics store despite the drug store name).
8:55, #90ish in line
9:01, through the door. Oh great. See an official looking employee, show him the cut-out ad I taped onto the 'Master Shopping Page' . He has no idea where it is but yeah! he's the store manager. He has now got people searching. They can't find the voice recorder I am looking for. [So soo sorry (or not) to all the people who were in line before me and are still looking for someone to help them - I snagged the Store Manager - na na na na - he's got all the electronics people helping ME!]
9:08 Staff found them. They were unmarked and in a bin under the camera counter. Store Manager is not happy - he does not like when the customers (& him) can not find stuff that we, the customers, are too buy. I am so happy - I've always wanted one of these but they used to be big and huge and majorly expensive. This one is $30 bucks and teeny tiny.
9:15, bought the teeny tiny voice recorder (a Sony!) and a box of Milk Chocolate Pot of Gold chocolates (Hey, I haven't had breakfast yet). London Drugs has every cashier open (take note Wal-mart!)

9:20, #6 in line at Hallmark Cards
9:30, through the doors, choose 2 puzzles of the 50% off rack and 1 roll of wrapping paper that is generic enough I can use for birthday gifts (60% off) . Chit Chat with another mom from the school.

9:47, HOME! [And the kids woke up at 9:22 so I've barely missed any of their day. PLUS I've been shopping for 2 1/2 hours.... and the deals I got!]

And if you think I am crazy...
My sister woke up at 4:30 to leave the house at 5am to drive 2 hours, across the Cdn/U.S. border, in the WINTER, to see what sales she can find in Minot, North Dakota. You go girl!

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3 Comments:

At December 27, 2007 at 6:38 AM, Blogger foodie suz said...

You are clearly insane.

But that's one of the things I like about ya.

s

 
At December 27, 2007 at 7:07 AM, Blogger Jamie said...

Good Lord woman - you're nuts! LOL.

Ok, your sister must live in the viscinity of Brandon. I've not heard of anyone heading to Minot to do their boxing day shopping ... I'm curious if it was any good there ???? (now that's dedication!)

You got some good deals though. Walmart here was absolutely stoopid, but I did get some xmas stuff for next year. My husband shakes his head when I haul this stuff into the house ....

I also hit up Michaels for some freakishly low priced crafty stuff for the kids for next year too. I steered clear of the mall though - I wasn't up for any fender benders LOL.

Congrats on the successful shopping trip!

 
At December 27, 2007 at 1:56 PM, Blogger C.L.W. said...

Hi Jamie - my dear ol' sis says that it wasn't worth the drive to Minot. Things were 50% off but not as large of a selection as we get here. She lives near Estevan.

I was at Michael's today but I'm still trying to finish off the craft supplies I bought LAST YEAR.... and I won't even mention the 3 boxes of Christmas Cards I keep not using each year... LOL.

 

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