Where my cranky slips out

I drove up to Edmonton yesterday.  I had a few things planned - oil change, pet food, books and oh hey - a new computer.

The dealership refused to do the oil change for free (which they agreed to do as long as I own the car when I bought it) unless I paid $56 for in-cabin air filter.  $56!  For a filter that blocks dust in a car that's driven with the windows down 6 months of the year.  There's no question that they'll be the recipient of a pissed off letter on Monday morning.

Then I traded in some books at what used to be my favorite used book store, and they charged me GST, which is the national sales tax in Canada.  It is not supposed to be applied towards used goods, and there wasn't any GST registration number on the receipt.  (I'm particularly sensitive to this because I used to work collections from companies who charged GST but never submitted it to the gov't.)

Then I went to the pet store to find that they'd raised their prices on kibble and stopped carrying the freeze dried chicken breasts that Tula loves.  Oh, but they carry a new brand now that's twice the price and has 200mg of  SALT per serving.  Salt.  For a dog.

Then I went to what I thought was the Apple store.  It turns out that it's just Future Shop that has a section for Apple products.  I'd gone online the night before to check out prices, so I'd noticed that Future Shop has their iMacs on sale.  I wasn't going to buy from them because I don't generally like their service, but I figured I was there and I might as well check it out.  A salesman practically met me at the door, and he seemed helpful to a point.  I pretended like I know nothing about computers at all, and he answered most of my questions with a semblance of intelligence.  But when it came time to name the price, he came in $200 higher than what was listed on their website.  When I turned to leave, he reminded me that he works on commission and that I'd just used up 3 whole minutes of his time.  So sorry about your luck, dude.

Finally, and against my best judgement, I went to Ikea.  I hate the chaos in this store, but I do like some of their products.  I wanted 2 things, and in an unprecedented move, I somehow found the combination of shortcuts through the store that brought me directly and almost immediately to the sections I was looking for.  I picked up what I needed, checked out and was ready to go in under 10 minutes; which is a record in and of itself.

But as I walked out to the car, I realized that one of the glasses I'd just bought was chipped.   I thought about taking it home anyway, but knew that my OCD would kick in if I started out with an incomplete set.  So, I went to the returns section and settled in for the projected 15 minute wait (seriously!) to do an exchange.  Of a 99 cent glass.  Luckily for me, the sales girl who had just checked me out recognized me as she walked by.  She agreed to hold my purchases while I ran back and got another glass, and then didn't make me go through the whole exchange process.

My faith in humanity was restored a notch.