Monday, January 15, 2007

I learned something new a few days ago: Circuit City carries Advil.

It’s right there by the checkout counters, along with the candy racks and soda coolers, at the nearby box store. Simple, travel-sized containers of the stuff.

My guess was that so many people get so stressed over the holidays (this actually happened on Dec. 30, but I didn’t get around to writing about it until now) that people were actually willing to make impulse buys of a painkiller. It’s obvious how they sell the soda and candy. Parents go through the line with kids, or even adults buy the snacks for themselves — if you’re dropping hundreds of dollars for a VCR, what’s a buck-fifty for a snack?

But it was hilarious to imagine people making the same calculation about Advil. “Okay, I’ve got the digital camera for Marc, and the Dead Man’s Chest DVD for Laurie — MAX, STOP KICKING RILEY! — but the guy here said that Flaming Crusade thing Greg asked for isn’t for sale yet, and I still need to go to the mall for Chuck’s family’s presents and then CostCo for the month’s groceries… ooh, an Advil sounds good right now.”

Anyways, I bought some. This had nothing to do with how stressful the weekend before New Year’s was for me, though (at least, I don’t think so). No, it’s just because I didn’t have any of the stuff.

After all, this is only the second time I’ve lived on my own (college doesn't really count) and the first time was a brief stay in a fully-furnished house. So the first couple months in my apartment were punctuated by buying a whole lot of minor-but-necessary stuff. Cleaning supplies, cooking utensils, stamps, etc. Purchases like that have diminished over time, but every so often one pops up. And I had noticed about a month or so ago that I didn’t have anything like aspirin, but it was never worth making a special trip, so that day at Circuit City is when this happened to pop.

And as is apparent by now, that post I'd planned to write (introspection with a dose of a Douglas Adams) is not coming. Oh well. Holidays are stressful for a lot of people, I understand, and it turned out that way for me. But whatever-it-was is resolved right now, or at least noticeably closer to being resolved, or at least easier to ignore.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's not just holidays. They might be for all the IT managers having to fix something some idiot screwed up at the office, or for couples who just spent two hours arguing over which TV to get...I think all big electronics stores should carry aspirin. Especially the ones with the salespeople who won't leave you alone.

Cyrus said...

Yeah, it occurred to me that the display probably wasn't seasonal, especially since it was part of a typical rack of candies and stuff. But since it was the holidays, that was the scenario that popped into my head and it seemed especially funny.

But annnyways, long time no see! How goes it?

Anonymous said...

Of course, it's probably a very sad thing that it wasn't a seasonal display. We're all addicted to painkillers in our own little ways.

Goes not so well, actually, though not in any way related to addictions or painkillers. At some point I hope to remember to call people before the time difference makes it too late on the other end.