Brownsville, TX... Traveling for business and I have plenty of time to run and work out because the schedule is not working as was intended. The problem is that I need some water to drink and the water from the faucet tastes like pool water with a hint of old stale aquarium. So I need to go and get some water from a major chain department store. This is the same department store that had many store closings in 2002. It also appears there are to be more store closings in the near future... I can see why the stores are closing and guess what else, I'm about to tell you.
First, the trip to Brownsville, or to McAllen because that is as close as Delta can get, then an hour drive to Brownsville. I had a connection in Atlanta. I board the plane and there is a guy sitting in the aisle seat next to me. He is the guy that needs the seat belt extender. On the positive side, even though he was large, he didn't crowd me, he didn't stink, and he was very nice.
After the boarding door was closed the pilot gets on the intercom and tells us there is a hydralic leak in the left hand side landing gear and that in order to fix it, the plane needs to be raised off the tarmac. Oh, yeah and they can't do that with people on the plane. So we deplane and move 4 gates down the terminal and wait for an hour for our next plane.
We start boarding and I'm dreading sitting in the same seat, not that there is anything wrong with the guy next to me but I wouldn't be terribly comfortable. He boards the plane about 5 people before me and as he is boarding he is arguing with the gate attendant. Whatever he said made the gate attendant walk with him all the way down the jetway and onto the plane. I get on the plane and ask what it was all about and he tells me that there were some people in business class that were denied boarding after the boarding door was closed. It was the door to the jetway, not the door to the plane - I don't think they ever closed the plane's door before the maintenance issue. As a result of them being denied boarding, two people from the upgrade list were moved to business class from economy. I guess the guy sitting next to me also saw some random person from economy put into a business class seat and he was annoyed by this (I'm not even sure how he knew the third person upgraded was not on the upgrade list). He was also correct. I was the third person on the upgrade list and the gate agent had the last person move and I was upgraded to business class. I'm not really sure what that was all about and I might have some of the details wrong but I got upgraded and a decent lunch out of the ordeal. It was nice because I was hungry too. It was an Asian chicken salad and some fruit.
I drive to the hotel and get caught up on my email then go for a run. After the run, I shower and watch some TV before going to dinner. I walk from the hotel and go to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Then on the way back I stop at the department store.
Water was not the only thing on my shopping list. After the laser eye surgery, my eyes are a little dry from time to time. It doesn't really bother me too much except it causes my vision to be a little fuzzy. Like when I had been on an overnight flight in my contact lenses. I called my eye doctor and asked what to buy since I'm out of town (they offered some free samples, if I could come and get them). They recommended 3 different brands with the common factor being drops that are preservative free. Eye drops are added to the list in addition to the water. I was also looking for some ice cream but they didn't have any.
The store is very clean and orderly, the first 10 employees I found were all straightening shelves and cleaning up. I walked all around the store before I found the food section. They were having a sale on bottled water (as every store is...) so I picked up 3 bottles of water, one liter each. I carry these to the pharmacy and find the correct drops, which by the way are the #1 Doctor Recommended Brand - according to the box.
I take my 4 items to the check out and pay for them. The cashier sets the 3 bottles of water on the end of the counter next to the eye drops instead of putting them in a plastic sack. She then hands me the receipt and starts ringing up the next customers's purchases. OK so I have to bag the items myself. I look around and there are no plastic bags anywhere. The metal frames that normally hold plastic bags are empty. All of them, there is not one plastic bag to be found in any check out lane at this store. I look over and the customer in the next check out lane is packing their purchases into a bag from The Gap. Really, no bags? WTF. I'm surprised this store is not on the closing list since they cannot afford plastic bags for less than a penny a bag.
Jenius.
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