Category Archives: retail

512MB!

Posted on December 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

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Look at that, a whopping 512MB mp3 player just in time for Xmas. Great design too. Looks just like an out dated iPod.

We brought it up to the registrar because we could imagine that it really costs $79. Just our luck, it’s on sale for $10.

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Lost List Number 5

Posted on August 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

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Well this one is very legible. We usually don’t post one like this but the lost lists have become hard to find lately.

It would seem here that someone is having a cookout. Up at the top there it sounds like a slow cooked side dish.

Then we got some refreshments. Boring, no booze.

Down at the bottom we are thinking it’s going to be some kind of hamburger helper.

The only odd thing about this list is that it was found at the pharmacy. They items that can only he found there are the refreshments, pasta, sauce and diced tomatoes. Besides the drinks those would be expensive purchases.

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What about three?

Posted on May 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

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There’s clear directions for lines one and two but what about line three?

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Cap Thieves

Posted on May 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

Over at the store down the street in the downtown area we noticed something strange. Someone stole just the cap of this here beverage. After further investigation we found out that this theft was a common occurrence. Just about every week the employees find a drink with a missing cap. Usually it’s sitting in the coolers with all the other drinks but sometimes they find them around the store.

It always seems to be the either a Lipton tea or one of those Nantucket Nectars. We have enjoyed both of those drinks lately. There is nothing special under those caps. We could understand if the stolen caps where coming from a Snapple. We all know that under those caps lies an interesting message. So stealing those caps would make a little more sense.

Perhaps it’s a prank but usually when one pranks they like to be around and see the outcome. We’ve been told that every now and then an unsuspecting customer will grab an uncapped tea and spill it on themselves but no one is around to see it happen.

So what’s up with this?

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Posted in drinks, out & about, retail, WTF

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Colon Flavor? Ew

Posted on May 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

So we got Kool Aid, Flavor Aid, lemonade, cherryade and so on. Now we have Colonaide.  Now usually the first part of the name denotes the flavor or at least a clue of what it will taste like.

After a closer look at this package we noticed that nothing states the flavor. So it must be colon flavored, right? Perhaps. Maybe they chose the name because it help out your colon. I mean Gatorade doesn’t really taste like an alligator does it? I guess it’s better than jumping on the 3D bandwagon.

Its just an odd choice for the product name. Also this is now on clearance at the drug store so we were not the only one to look at and said “ew”.

So tell us, does the name of odd drinks help you understand the flavor?

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Posted in out & about, retail

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Saving Paper…kinda

Posted on November 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

 

So we are doing our part in saving paper. However there is a difference in saving paper and being cheap, or stupid. This tale comes from the drug store involving an emailed coupon. These days retailer like to electronic mail coupons to their customers. That way they can send them up to date coupons and deals throughout the year.

Here’s the set up. A customer is getting ready to pay for her stuff at the counter and she starts to present her wad of coupons to the cashier. The first coupon she pulls out is a very odd one. The cashier asks the customer “whats this?” She explains to him that she wanted to save paper and decided to write down the coupon information on a piece of notebook paper instead of printing out the coupon. She also expressed how she thought that its ridiculous that companies force their customer to print out coupons to bring to the store and that it’s a waste of paper.

The cashier got their supervisor to deal with this lady. She was told that they need an official coupon to send back to their office in order to receive the credit for it. She didn’t understand. It was explained to her that just about anyone could write down a coupon like this. She continues to say that she wanted to save paper….if she wanted to save paper they why did she write down the info on a PIECE OF PAPER?  Why didn’t she write it down on her arm or a shoe?  It was explained to her again that if they excepted this coupon that the cashier and the supervisor would get in trouble. Each of them could possibly loose their jobs and they were not going to take it. The customer freaks out, throws the coupon on the counter and storms out. Of course as she storms out she ranting about the waste of paper.

Here’s a question. Is printing out a coupon that you would use at the store a waste of paper? The piece of paper does serve a purpose. Even if you grabbed a blank piece of paper and crumbled it up into a ball and used it to take shots at a trash barrel, you’re not wasting it. You just played a game and the paper served a purpose.

I think a real waste of paper would be grabbing a blank sheet from a ream and throwing it out.

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Why $88.00?

Posted on September 8, 2010 | Leave a comment

Browsing through the gift card rack the other day I ran across this $88.00 AMEX gift card with some kind of asian dragon on it.  Even though 88 the number isn’t odd, I feel the gift card is. This wasn’t in a chinatown of a major city that I came across this. In fact it’s a heavily white area by 98.38% and asians only make up 0.45%.

What is the meaning of the number 88? Something to do with those crazy ninjas in Kill Bill?

Don’t worry, research was done.

“88 (eighty-eight) is the natural number following 87 and preceding 89“ Good to know but that doesn’t help here
“88 is used as shorthand for ‘hugs and kisses’ when signing a message in Amateur (ham) Radio. It is used in spoken word (radiotelephony) morse code (radiotelegraphy) and in various digital modes. It is considered rather more intimate than ’73′, which (roughly) means ‘best regards’, and therefore 73 is more often used. The two may be used together. Sometimes the 88 or 73 is pluralized by appending an s, which is incorrect. These number codes are at least a century old.” That just might hold up here if there was “xoxox” on the card, not a dragon.

Eighty-eight is used as code among Neo-Nazis to identify each other. H is the 8th letter of the alphabet, so 88 is taken to stand for HH which in turn means Heil Hitler. Again…good to know but highly unlikely to be the meaning here.

I think the winning meaning it this one…

88 symbolizes fortune and good luck since the word 8 sounds similar to the word Fā (发, which implies 发财, or wealth, in Mandarin). The number 8 is considered to be the luckiest number of all in Chinese culture and prices in Chinese supermarkets can often be found containing many 8′s.

The Chinese government has even been auctioning auto license plates containing many 8s for tens of thousands of dollars. The 2008 Beijing Olympics opened on 8/8/08 at 8 p.m.

Amazing how a number can stand for so many things, both negative and positive. We went from just a number to hugs and kisses then to neo nazis and ended up with good luck.


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Posted in out & about, retail

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ENTER, The Drug Store Dildo

Posted on July 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

Great news everybody! The drug stores now sell sex toys. It started first with those vibrating condoms then the flavor lube and now behold a dildo. It goes for about $20. Here’s what duress says about it:

Play Allure is an innovative personal massager designed for pure sensual pleasure.  Featuring multi-speed power settings, whisper quiet vibrations can be adjusted from powerful to feather-light to suit your mood.  With a sleek and smooth elegant design, you can experiment with a variety of sensations for an exhilarating intimate experience.

There must have been a demand for a product like this to carried in a local retail store. No longer will people have to go to an adult store towns away so friends and family don’t see them exiting the store with a brown paper bag. No more having to buy online and wait for that non discreet package to arrive in the mail. Come to think of it, those non discreet packages that come in the mail are a little to non discreet, they can easily be open by your special someone thinking it was something completely different.

I just can’t wait to hear the complaints from customers after their small children pick up the box and ask mom what it is. It’s bad enough that the family planning section in most store is usually filled with giggling teens..this should really send them over the edge.

I wonder when we will see a toy for the men?

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Apple Store iPhone Day!

Posted on June 25, 2010 | Leave a comment

Well, today was the day. All those people who decided to pre-order and pick their new iPhone 4 was at the Apple stores. Along with the people who decided to press their luck and wait in line. I spoke to a few people in the “purchase” line. They told me that they hauled the butts to the mall as early as 4 am to wait in line, to realized that they were in the incorrect line. What’s up with that? You would think that both the Apple store team and the mall security guards would have organized a well thought out place for customers to line up out side. Others told me that they entered the mall though a side door to line up in front of the Apple store, only yo be escorted out of the mall because it was “too early to line up”. As they walked out of the mall these customers passed by those mall walkers that have been there for hours. This happened to me during the 3G launch. No, a big deal though. As a result, they ended up being behind about 20 people. Not first in line but will most likely be getting an iPhone.

Here’s a look at the line. I used the new iMovie app to add in the music that seems a bit to quiet.

The line at the top of the screen is the customers that pre-ordered their iPhones and the bottom is the people dropping in. Doesn’t look like a large crowed because the rest of the line was outside. As the inside line died down a bit the security guards escorted some people from outside.

I hung around for a bit. Grabbed a coffee and was slightly nervous shooting video and pictures with the device that most people where not certain that was going to be available. All in all it was a great turn out I’m told. The Apple employees past out Smart Water to waiters and shook their hands as they left.

The experience reminds me of the Saturn car company….in fact both companies slogan used “different”

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Posted in geeks, iPhone, retail, Uncategorized, Videos

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Lost List #1

Posted on June 1, 2010 | 1 Comment

Working at the drug store you run into a lot strange things. One of my favorite past times is finding peoples lost lists. Funny thing is that I have told the crew that I have started to collect them and they are all on board with sending them my way when they are found. So lets just say I have quit a collection thus far.

Now for the list.

What I like to do is pretend that the “list” was given to me and I am to shop for the customer. With that in mind I have to do my best in interpreting the writing. This lady is a frequent shopper. I also have seen her checks that she writes us. They are just as messy. Does she realize that the paper has lines on it? She did a pretty good job staying inside the margin but why? Just to add this wasn’t a small piece of paper. It was one of those 8X14 sheets of paper. Good thing too because she writes big and loopy. For the most part I can make out the whole list and here’s what I would bring back to her.

  • dulcolax
  • allery pills
  • random lotion
  • aloe lotion
  • coat hangers, the joke is on her the drug store doesn’t have those
  • baby power
  • 9 volt battery
  • dvd of snow white
  • a couple random greeting cards
  • a bag
  • box of tissues
  • and i guess some pot

Did I get everything? Is there anything you might do different?

please join us and leave a comment!

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