Boxing Day

I've always wanted to go Boxing Day shopping. This year was not the year to start.

I did, however, hit up a few stores… in a small town neighboring my home town. With a small town comes a small crowd.

Skip forward a day, the day after boxing day, should be safe to do some returns/shopping right? Wrong.

It wasn't as bad as Boxing Day likely is… but it might have been close.

While buying something in a video game store (don’t judge me) the sales guy was trying to sell me a few additional things… only to find out, he couldn't sell them, he was sold out. In fact, it looked like a tornado had gone through most stores.

Shelves were barren, whole isles torn apart at the seams by shoppers getting next year’s Christmas gifts (hmmm… maybe I should have done that)

Moral of the story. Boxing Week shopping is fun… but it’s also not something to do in a rush… especially if it involves Customer Service. 15 minute lines are a little crazy.

                                                                                            

Group Therapy Thursday, February 16th

Tonight on Group Therapy Thursday we were helping out Matthew. He wants to go to college come September, but his girl friend has other plans. She's said it's either college or her. What should Matthew do?

Tonight on Group Therapy Thursday we were helping out Joe-Anne. She has a friend that is buying a $2,000 wedding dress, but she doesn't have a boyfriend! What should Joe-Anne do?

Here's what you had to say...

Cash... really?

I got myself a cell phone for Christmas this year. Nothing fancy... in fact, it's one of those old school jobs. (Yes texting takes forever without a slide-out keyboard).

So as you can expect, I revived my first bill. I went in to pay said bill at the Kiosk where I originally bought the phone.

After buying a USB cable for the phone, I tell the clerk, I'd like to pay my bill. He then informs me that I can't use cash, I have to use a credit card. I'm underage (gasp!) and hence don't have a credit card... so I have to find a place in the mall that sells a Visa giftcard. I found one, bought it and went back to the Kiosk. I'm then informed that it takes these cards 30 minutes to activate, but I can go home and pay over the phone!

So in review I can pay my bill --

Over the phone by credit card - Over the Internet by credit card - By auto withdrawal - By manual withdrawal (I tell the bank to pay it) - in person at the Kiosk, but I CAN'T pay with cash... why?

They do take cash for accessories (remember that USB cable?), but when I want to pay my bill, I can't use cash? What's the point of having a currency if we aren't going to use it? I'm not too crazy about auto withdrawal and I likely wouldn't get a credit card for a little while... but I always carry cash! Maybe I'm over reacting, but it seems really illogical to me that I can't just hand the guy 30 bucks and be done with it... I don't mind using Visa giftcards, the only catch is the extra charge for activation.

Can you relate or am I just overreacting?