downtown business irritations
I really do love my home town, but today it has bugged me.
Gloria and I went down to Johnny’s Bagels for breakfast. The girl working the counter asked me to repeat my order about three times, and asked both of us a number of times whether we were ordering for there or to go. Actually, she kept saying, “You’re to go, right?” We’d correct her, and she’d ask again: “You’re to go, right?” Then, to top it all off, she gave me about two tablespoons’ worth of tuna salad on my bagel. I paid four bucks for that? Fie!
Later, after ice cream, we checked out the Moravian Book Store, where I checked on the availability of Loop, the third book in Koji Suzuki’s Ring trilogy. Months ago, when they failed to acquire HOP for me, I’d been told they were planning to have Loop, and would have it this week. Last week, when I went in to double-check, the cashier couldn’t find any record that the book even existed or was planned for release. Today, they said, “Well, it looks like our distributor can’t get it, but Amazon has it.”
Well, no shit! I could have just ordered it from Amazon to start with, months ago, and never have had to think about it again until it arrived. I wouldn’t mind being told I had to wait, but Moravian keeps jerking me around. I am done with them, I think. I want to support local businesses, but not when it means continually suffering for it. Maybe another local bookstore will open sometime, and I can go there instead. For now, I’ll be making use of my Amazon Prime membership a lot more.