In the letter last week I talked about the
upcoming Cyclerides.com
Toys To Kids event that will be happening this Saturday, December 11th at
Westgate City Center. If you missed that letter, Click Here to
read and it will bring you up to speed on what
will be happening. But in the meantime, we are bringing in 100 homeless kids
from Children First Academy to feed, entertain and give them gifts. There will
be about a 30 minute program starting at 11am then the kids will be able to pick
out their gifts. Bring a new unwrapped gift for ages 6-12 years. Parking on
Coyote Blvd. and events plaza. $8.99 breakfast buffet starting at 9am. Bring the
whole family, there will be a Hot Rod and Classic car show that day as well.
Click Here for details. Hope to see you there.
Ok, I will admit it. As Christmas rolls around
again, it reaffirms that I'm not a big fan of shopping with crowds. In fact, it
is low on my list of things to do. But this time of year, whether
we like it or not, at some point you are going to find yourself in a position
where you will be pushing that cart up to the front of the store and you will
have to choose which line you are going to get into that will move the fastest.
Invariably there will be a "Line Killer" somewhere.
Your job is to pick
the line that won't have one. We have all been there. In fact, it has
become a game with me. Once I pick a line, I monitor the other lines, to see if
I made the right choice. Freud might have some fun with that behavior, but it
gives me something to do while waiting.
Back in 2002 I wrote a story about this very
subject that is
timeless and everyone can relate to. And to this
day, when I go to Costco, or any where else for that matter, and get ready to
pick a line, this story comes to mind. So I thought I would bring it out of the
Archives, dust it off and share it with you again. Enjoy.
"THE LINE KILLER"
Excerpt from
the Cyclerides.com Weekly Update 12/23/2002.
My how time flies. It is now the 23rd of December, 2002.
That means I am probably half done with my Christmas shopping. As usual, I got
started 3 days before the big day with my annual Christmas shopping stop at
Costco. You think that place is busy on a normal day, you should try it the last
weekend before Christmas. After driving around in circles for several
minutes I finally found a parking spot just within site of the building, but
that was fine, the long walk gave me some time to do some brainstorming on some
gift ideas.
As I approached the store I grabbed a
cart, flashed my card and proceeded inside the store where there was a nasty
bottleneck that stopped everybody. Well, almost everybody. There was a little
old lady from Sun City that apparently didn't see the brake lights on the carts
ahead and crashed into MY rear quarter. After she
apologized several times, I told her that it was alright, my rear bumper
had enough padding to be rated higher than the typical 5 mph crash. Hoping
things would improve I continued on to look for gifts and pick up a
few staples. So I got my annual 40 pound jar of peanut butter, 3
gallon jar of jelly, 100 razor blade refills, 500 Christmas cookies (for a
party of 10), and knowing that I was going to be spending some time with
the in-laws, I picked up a bottle of 10,000 Tylenol Extra Strength tablets. But
it's all a good deal right? After getting shutout on that perfect gift idea I
headed to the checkout area to scope out the fastest line.
I've talked about this before, but it
happens so often that it bears repeating. Given my disdain for long checkout lanes, I now
have to decide which of these 20 plus checkout lanes is going to move
the fastest. My job is to sniff out the persons who are the
"Line Killers" and not get behind them. You know the ones;
can't find their checkbook, card is expired, can't remember their PIN, has the
one item in the store without a UPC code on it, slow writer, asks stupid
questions, yada, yada, yada. I know you are shaking your head in agreement about
now, we've all been behind them. These people are the shopper version
of carbon monoxide, they are a colorless, odorless killer of lines, and you
don't know you have been affected until your line has been rendered useless
by one of these silent line assassins.
After
careful deliberation and a scan of the available lines to find potential
offenders, I pick out a
line to settle in for the quick exit. But suddenly, I saw what was a nice
opening in the line next to me and quickly moved my cart to that line. (Note to
self, go with your first impression) Next I took note of the people I would have
been behind in the other lines to eventually see if I had picked the right one.
This isn't a new activity for me, I do the same thing on the freeway when I pick
a lane to drive in. OK, it's more of a sickness than an activity, but it gives
me something to do while I am waiting. So sure enough, before the wheels
stopped rolling on my cart in the new line, a "line killer" rears its
ugly head and made his presence known for the next 10 minutes. It really hurts when you see the guy in the line next to
you, that was in the place you could have been, walk out the door and you still
have 3 people in front of you. I was
watching the people in the lines I did not choose, go through them like 10
gallons of water through a 9 gallon funnel.
Unbeknownst to me, the clerk in the line that I so suddenly
rebuffed had been watching the whole thing. She even caught my eye and tried to
console me. She said:"Sorry
bout that hun, it happens to me all the time. I can never pick the right
line." While those words didn't get me out of there any
faster, the gesture did rate high on the misery loves company
chart. We shared a little laugh and I was no worse for the wear. Worse
things could happen. All it did was remind me that I was now 5 out of
7 for picking bad lines this shopping season. So to save others from
this kind of frustration, I think these people should have to wear a button on
their back that say's: BEWARE! I'm a line killer, enter this line at your own
risk. That would save us all a
lot of time and frustration. Happy Christmas Shopping! Avoid the Line
Killer.
