Fall into the Gap

[austin_dern]

My parents have enjoyed having me home, because Mom's able to send me out to buy Dad Christmas presents without venturing into the cold herself, and Dad's able to send me out to buy Mom presents similarly. I feel like a bland sort of double agent, putting together a list of Things to Pick Up which I can't show either for confirmation.

A lot of these are gift cards. One I picked up (on orders) from a women's apparel store was the plastic card, put inside a tight-fitting plastic sleeve, which was itself taped to the inside of a longer card, which the sales clerk wrapped in tissue paper folded-over to put into a cardboard box (with a ribbon for when, later, it would get wrapped and needed a bow), that was put into a plastic bag for carrying. Clearly, the country feels threatened by the excessive wrapping given my pants in Singapore, and has risen to the challenge.

At The Gap I also bought (on orders) a Gift Card. The register printed out several receipts; so, naturally, I said, ``I have to ask -- one of those is the gift receipt, isn't it?''

``Yes, it is,'' said the cashier, and he pointed to the shorter. So, then, if the recipient doesn't want the Gift Card she can exchange it for something the store sells.

The cashier didn't understand my laughter, as severe an indictment of modern teenagers as I can deliver. The (older) cashier and a person in line at Sears thought it was hilarious, though. I mentioned it because the register there went mad, printing out a receipt, a gift receipt, a couple rebate receipts, and so on.

Trivia: The National Advisory Council on Aeronautics's first wind tunnel, a copy of a decade-old English design, began operations on 11 June 1920. Source: Wind Tunnels of NASA, Donald D. Baals, William R. Corliss, NASA SP-440.

Currently Reading: Sea of Glory, Nathaniel Philbrick.

Comments

[gafennec.livejournal.com]

``Yes, it is,'' said the cashier, and he pointed to the shorter. So, then, "if the recipient doesn't want the Gift Card she can exchange it for something the store sells."


ROFLing :)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I've said it before, I'll say it again. I'm perpetually amazed that Communism fell first.

[gafennec.livejournal.com]

I'm not once you factor humanity into the equations. :D

[gafennec.livejournal.com]

Yes. At least the people of GUM try to be helpful till after you purchase the car. :)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

And no matter how hard they may have wanted to, they couldn't put you into the voice-mail labyrinth of the minotaur, so on that count Communism comes out way ahead.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Ah, but can you honestly say that (oh, for example) any given phone conversation with the student loan people is not more horrible, more aggravating, and more soul-destroying than trying to buy a new car from GUM?

[gafennec.livejournal.com]

You know...I could have sworn I already answered this? But yeah, at least the people at GUM are helpful to the point of being obnoxious till you bought the car. (Just call me Deja Vu Fennec!) :)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Wow, you're speedy, even for a fennec. Yeah, I had posted largely the same comment just before, only with a typo that reversed the meaning, so I deleted and re-posted it (I select all/copy my responses from painful habit now) in what I thought would be too short a time for anybody to notice the difference. How'd you find me so fast?

[orv.livejournal.com]

I mentioned it because the register there went mad, printing out a receipt, a gift receipt, a couple rebate receipts, and so on.

Have you ever rented a U-Haul truck? They print out the entire rental contract on three-inch-wide, carbonless-copy cash register tape, while you stand there. You end up with a receipt approximately five feet long.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I've never done that, no. The longest register tapes I've gotten -- at least until this year when things got really out of control -- not counting instant coupons would be for professional purposes, actually, the daily register receipts from when I worked at the bookstore.

Boy, complete rental contracts on three-inch register tape ... that's probably better than reading a User License Agreement on a cell phone screen, but not much.

[dashingpooka.livejournal.com]

Now that's just cute. ^^

Thanks for sharing!

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Thank you ... I don't go out trying to find strange things; they just sort of happen around me.