Not Early Enough

I think there should be a standard set, or a law passed, regarding the time stores will open each day. I get the boys on the bus for summer school at around 7:50 every morning. If I’ve got errands to run, Dolly and I get back to the house, about a minute away from the bus stop, and get ready to go do what we have to do. Right now it’s easy; most of the stores we shop at open at 8:00a.m. or earlier. It’s convenient to have them open then so we can do what we need to do and get back home again. This morning we had just one errand to run; that was to go find the gift items I wanted to buy for the kids to decorate for their dad for Father’s Day.

We got the boys on the bus, came home, put our hair in hair ponies (as Dolly calls them), put on our shoes and were out the door. It only took about ten minutes for us to get to Dollar Tree, so I figured we’d be home before 9:00 and could get started on the other things we needed to do today. We get to the store and, wouldn’t ya know it, it wasn’t open. It was 8:05 in the morning, why weren’t they open? What kind of store isn’t open at 8:00a.m. these days? Geez, even banks are open at 8:00, if not before. That was really disappointing. What to do instead? I wasn’t driving back home to wait for 20 minutes before heading back there, so we drove over to the supermarket in the very next shopping center to see if they had any of the items I needed.

This is a big store so we got plenty of exercise while we walked around for a half hour looking for the item, which, by the way, was sold there. It just wasn’t the kind I wanted. I wanted the item to be blank but the ones we found were pre-printed with either a national company logo or some silly saying. No good; we’d still have to try Dollar Tree. So, back in the car we go to sit in the parking lot for twenty five minutes. Honestly, what do they expect people to do when we get to the store and it’s not open yet? We hung out in the van. Dolly was playing with the toys she brought with her and I was playing a game on my cell phone when, suddenly, Dolly had to pee. Back to the supermarket we go – thank goodness it only takes 15 seconds to drive there – and on another search, for the restroom this time. Guess what? It’s all the way on the other side of the store. Okay, more exercise.

By the time we get out it is probably 9:00 or later so Dollar Tree should be open. The sign on the door said 9:00 and I was going to hold them to their word. Sure enough, when we pulled back into the parking lot the store had opened and we got to start our search. Can someone explain to me why, when I start looking for an item in a store, I inevitably start on the wrong end of the store? I never just walk into a store and go directly to where an item is – unless I know where it is beforehand, of course. If I don’t have any clue, it never fails that I have to search, at least, ¾ of the store before I find what I need. That’s just what happened today. We started looking at one end and found the item at the other end. We got more exercise, though. I have to look at the benefits, right?

So we get what we need and head back home to continue with out chores. It was around 9:45 by then and I was a little peeved. I had wanted to be home much sooner. It wasn’t my fault, though. Every business opens by 8:00 these days. Why does Dollar Tree have to be so stubborn? I don’t know. Are they trying to prove a point? They’ll probably use the excuse that they’re open until 9:00 at night Big deal, who cares? Most businesses are open until 9:00 but they still open by 8:00, at least. When they close is not my concern. I don’t generally drag my kids out of the house after 8:00p.m. to go shopping. I get my shit done early in the day and I expect the businesses I want to visit to accommodate my needs.

Maybe I’ll write to the company and ask why they don’t open earlier when every other business around them does. Maybe I’ll make a big stink about it. Maybe I’ll write to my State Representatives and suggest that a law be passed and implemented that requires businesses to open by 8:00 in the morning so their customers don’t have to sit in the parking lot waiting for someone to unlock the doors because they got there an hour early. Now that I have tags on Morrison I might be willing to frequent Dollar Tree for my household needs but I can’t because they don’t open early enough for me. I can run right up to Dollar General at 8:00 and get what I need. If I were going to go to Dollar Tree I’d have to find shit to do around the house until it was time to leave and that just doesn’t work for me. What if my chores can’t be completed without the items I’d be buying from Dollar Tree? What do I do then; just sit at home with my hand on my ass waiting for 9:00 to arrive? I don’t think so. Someone needs to speak to these people about their hours before a disgruntled customer gets really angry and, I don’t know, stands in the parking lot and blows a raspberry at the store manager. I’d do it, too. Mark my words.

Until next time…peace to all.