 kmccarthy, Wed, January 24th, 2007 Oh, man, this game is getting so old. We’ve been hunting for a Wii since mid-December, and my most recent encounter made me curse electronics, big box stores, materialism, computer graphics, and even though I don’t mind it so much, the cold. Every few days my beloved and/or I head out to continue to look for Cormac’s Christmas present. Let me go on record as saying that Cormac has been great about the lack of this device; Christmas was nice; he had a good day; and we all had fun. Phew. I counted my blessings that day to not have had Christmas Day degenerate into the sort of emotional trauma that comes when a child – even a teenage one – just can’t cope any more. So I came really close to the coveted object over the weekend, swinging by a big box store in the mall on Saturday so Christopher could fuel his inner geek with a purchase of Battlestar Galactica. I’ve given up hope on the Wii, but continue to ask. A clerk told me tomorrow. I know this routine. “Will you be handing out tickets?” I asked, remembering stories of people lining up at 5 a.m. to collect one of the 20 tickets available for the machines coming in that day. “No,” he told me, “just get here before we open.” Great; opening time was 11 and just to help myself remember that consumer culture still doesn’t have total ownership of my soul, I went to 8 o’clock church before heading to the Monolith that is The Mall. I pulled up about 9:30; no line, doors to the store closed, only a few people in their cars. Good so far. I headed inside, unfolded my paper, drank my coffee and kept a close eye on the man standing so close to the closed metal gate that I was afraid he would go through it like the characters in Star Gate One and their portals. About 10:15, the bubble burst, when another consumer in the full throes of Schadenfreude arrived to tell the eight or so of us that they had handed out tickets at 7:30 and all the Wiis were accounted for. Out we swarmed, where a hapless employee sweeping went to fetch a manager, who told us, yes, indeed, all the tickets had been handed out. He was totally disinterested in my complaint that I had been told there wouldn’t be tickets; apparently the line had gotten too long in the chill air, and they’d decided to hand out tickets. He did give me the corporate 1-888 number; terminal hold was all I got there. So I’m mad at the employee who told me no tickets; mad that I didn’t pound on the door to verify that on Sunday morning; mad at the indifferent manager (who, in truth, is probably so sick of the whole thing he could barf); and furious at Nintendo. But, here’s the thing about our consumer culture. I can be as mad as I want, but I’m fueling this. Well, OK, my teenage son is, and then I stop feeling angry and start feeling confused. Should I just make a huge declaration that we will no longer buy Nintendo products because these marketing practices take advantage of all of us? Is it OK that I think it’s OK for a teenager to want the popular toy of the day? Wouldn’t life have been better if we’d been one of those No TV families? If I didn’t have a job, I’d take my folding chair and sit in the electronics departments of these big box stores – a different one every day, all day. Just think of the people I’d meet, the books I’d read, the knitting projects I’d finish. That would be quite a line on a resume … December 2006 – present. Waiting for a Wii. Read, interrogate store staff and clients about purchasing/selling habits. If I were independently wealthy, I’d fly to Nintendo headquarters and stage a sit-in. Well, OK, that would be crazy. But this sitting in a chair thing; that sounds pretty good. blog comments powered by Disqus  |
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