"what with the economy being what it is... "

I may rip out my hair if I hear that sentence one more time.

Today I went to Target to purchase a Batman Lego for my son.

It is the only thing he requested for his birthday and seemed simple enough, considering the movie was just up for an oscar, and well it involves BATMAN!! Iconic figure in popculture.

RIGHT?

Well, NO, sorry, no Batman Lego in stock.


Well, is it just sold out?
shrug

Do you NORMALLY CARRY BATMAN LEGO?
shrug

CAN YOU PHONE THE GATEWAY STORE AND ASK IF THEY HAVE ANY?

no,
no they cannot.

No one in the toy department knows if they carry it, and no they cannot phone another store for me.


So off I go to "Customer Service", which in Target language, means Freaky, hideous, cranky woman who could not give a shit if my hair was on fire.

She is totally unwilling to call for me, but being the person I am I force her.

She grimaces, she pulls faces.

Finally we find out that

NO,

no one in the Portland metro area, has the goddamn Batman Lego.

So I say

"that seems really weird to me."

insert that cricket noise effect from TV

So I continue on...

"And the really crappy customer service from the clerks seems shocking too, considering how dead it is in here! "

To which she answers "what with the economy being what it is, we are really short handed"

Short HANDED?

Are you insane, this joint is crawling with red and khaki clad slackers chatting each other up. The problem is none of them know anything about their merchandise.

"no, it is the economy."

OK, so would that not motivate the people working to provide BETTER service, not worse service, so people like me that seldom shop, will come back again?