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September 2, 2006

You Can't Get What You Paid For, You Can't Get Underwear, and You Can't Watch What You Want on TV.

By: The Dude on the Right
By blog accounts, this one is long, but damn it's exciting.  Almost as exciting as my day.  Let's get to it...

So, I had an exciting day planned.  First I figured I would catch a movie, and I did.  It was the movie "Crank," and the review should be posted tomorrow (quick hint - stupid fun, with some quality kills and gratuitous nudity).  Then I planned on getting the dude-mobile washed, and I did that, too.  I also needed to buy some new underwear.  Man, what an exciting day.

But two other things became of interest to me as the day went on.  One deals with an always sore subject with me, and that is the FCC and their messed up "censorship" guidelines.  The second is I can see why a major retailer might be losing some customers.

First off, and maybe you never paid attention, nor thought it would affect you, but thanks to our government raising the fines on what five people decide is indecent, CBS stations across the country are having to make a decision if they should air "9/11," a documentary, because of some of the language and content in the program.  Yup, thanks to the moniker of "saving the children," five years after the 9/11 attacks, television stations are having to worry a lot more about anything they might put on your TV, many times, now, because of "back-door censorship" by the government, rather than if the show just sucks.  Me, I find it sort of sad that when kids ask why other people hate the United States enough to crash planes into our buildings, a lot of times we tell them it's because those people don't like the freedoms we have.  Yet at this anniversary of the 9/11 attacks a lot of you won't have the freedom to decide if you want to watch a gripping documentary about that day.  Thank you Senators, House Representatives, and President Bush for raising the fine.  And, oh yea, thank you also to the five people at the FCC who decide, for all of us, what is indecent.

On another note, if the folks at Sears find they are losing customers, they might be right.  I know today they lost one for sure, and probably a second.  Carson Pirie Scott, on the other hand, just gained a new one.

First, why I'm done with Sears.

Me being a dude, you can probably guess the state of my boxers as I went to the local mall in search of some new ones.  First stop - JCPenney.  I've always had decent luck shopping there for clothes, but their Labor Day sale on underwear, and the disarray of the display, left slim pickin's for this dude.  I had three other shopping options for underwear:  Sears, Marshall Field's (now almost Macy's), and Carson Pirie Scott.  Figuring Sears would be the better frugal choice, I cruised around the mall and found myself in their men's underwear section.  They didn't have the brand I was looking for, but the Hanes' stuff was on sale and even though their display was also in disarray, I was able to find enough in the size and color I like to replenish my boxer drawer.  Now I have to preface this a tad because I was already a little perturbed at Sears because of my mother's latest dealing with them (more on that later), but under the assumption that shopping at Sears would save me a few bucks, I was sticking with my underwear purchase there.  That was until I tried to pay for them.

I head for the first cashier area where no one seemed to be working, but people in line seeming to hope someone would show up.  So I head around the corner and down the aisle to the next cashier area, only to find a line of five people and the cashier just getting on the PA system asking for a manager.  I ain't got time to wait for that.  So I head to the next cashier area.  One cashier and this time about ten people in line (granted by this time I found myself in the women's clothing area, where I did find it odd that the men's restroom was there, behind the lingerie display, but being in the women's area, I thought it might be busy), and I headed to the last cashier area on the floor.  Again, one cashier.  Again, ten people in line, and already being upset at Sears, deciding my underwear purchase, no matter the state of my current ones, didn't warrant waiting that long in line.  Being the nice guy I am, I did put the boxers back in the underwear display, but I was still without new underwear to buy, and rather than shop at Marshall Field's, the Chicago institution it is, soon to be named Macy's by the Macy's people, I took a protest of my own against the name change and said to myself, "Self, what the hell, let's give Carson's a shot."

So I cruised around the mall a bit more, and I almost stopped at Radio Shack, and no, not for underwear, but no one else was in the store and I didn't want to be pestered by the sale's folks there, so I took a pass.  I'm sorry, I digress.  Back to Carson Pirie Scott.  Walking to the men's clothing area, there, in the middle of one of the aisles, was a well organized display of the Jockey underwear I was originally looking for.  And you know what?  They were on sale.  At this point they were still a little more expensive than if JCPenney's had had them, and Sears still had the best price of all with the Hanes, but I really needed the boxers so I figured I would suck-up the extra couple of bucks.  I head to the cashier area, staffed with two cashiers and only one person in line, they finish their transaction, I put my underwear on the counter, and on top of the savings I was getting from them just being on sale, the sale's associate seemed to scan a coupon that I didn't have.  Suddenly my underwear purchase was cheaper than both JCPenney and Sears, and with that, Carson Pirie Scott has gained a new customer, and combined with the following, I will find it hard for me to return to Sears.

The other customer that Sears may have lost is my mother, and this blog is already too long, so I'll save her complete story for another blog.  To put it simply right now, I took her to Sears to get a new microwave a little while ago, a KitchenAid (Mom likes KitchenAid).  It was a special order, and the Sears' folks were also hired to install it.  The install folks came, put in a microwave, and Mom was initially happy, only something didn't seem right, her spices fit between the microwave and the top of the stove.  Eventually Mom figured out that it wasn't the microwave she paid for (sadly, it was a lesser microwave).  The Sears' folks did refund my Mom her money, correcting for the microwave that was installed, but from what Mom tells me, the salesperson who handled the refund, rather than taking any responsibility, told my brother (he took care of getting things straight), that the KitchenAid people must have shipped the wrong microwave.  The more I think about it, that excuse seems like a quick copout, and it is also burning up my Mom because she feels the same way. 

Anyway, more on Mom's microwave during a later blog, otherwise this blog might go on forever, especially if I get into another tangent about the cool fountain at the mall, why I was thinking of heading into Radio Shack, and my experience at the car wash.

So Sears, sorry, but I'm not planning on shopping with you anymore, and I have a feeling my Mom might be done with you also.  Carson Pirie Scott, the next time I'm looking for clothes, I think I'll stop by your store first.  For a sale, you're not as expensive as I assumed you were.

Sometimes you can't seem to find the underwear you want, sometimes you can't seem to get the microwave you paid for, and sometimes you don't have the freedom to watch what you want on TV.  What a wonderful world.

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Posted by Rightdude at 8:01 PM | Comments (0)