I braved the crowds and did some shopping this afternoon. I needed to pick up a few things for stockings, needed something for Mom (Yes, Mom, I was shopping, even though I tried to deny it to your face…), and found some things for Mark. The man is hard to buy for. Me? I’m easy. Him? He still wears clothes he’s had for 20 years. And still uses an original iPod, one of those thick-as-a-deck of cards things. It’s pristine.

I also needed to go to Staples and finally get the chair that I have been wanting for school. The chair I’m using is terrible. Shockingly bad. The new one was approved ages ago, and I kept thinking that I needed Mark to go with me, that it wouldn’t fit in the back of my car.

I walked in to Staples and headed back to the furniture section – I was a little worried that they might not still have it, but I was happy to see it, all bright amidst the boring blacks and greys:

There weren’t any sales people around, so I wandered away to pick up some things I wanted for stocking stuffers, and when I went back, a young man was there helping someone else. I caught his eye, and told him I which chair I wanted.

He went in to the back to look, and after a few minutes returned and said “Well, we don’t have any in back, but we can order it online for you and have it shipped to you for free.”

I knew for a fact that it wasn’t available online, which is why I was buying it in the store. We’d already tried to order it online. I told him this, and sure enough: his computer agreed with me. No dice.

I was a little flabbergasted when he went on to say “Um, OK. We do actually have 2 of them, but there’s like 6 full pallets in front of them.”

Dude. Seriously? You lied to me? Seriously?

He went off to shift pallets and 10 minutes later I was checking out with my brand-new chair. I’m only a little bit embarrassed that I’ve been waiting all this time for Mark, when I just needed to pull up my big girl panties and deal with it.

When I got home Mark sort of sympathized and said “Well, it just BARELY fit.”

He put it together for me, and then loaded it up in his truck, and we took it up to school tonight, so that it’s already ready for me Monday morning.