Feeling Old

Ever since I turned 60, I wondered if I would turn into a senior citizen and start divulging my social security number over the phone and buying aluminum siding from traveling workers. So far that hasn't happened, but I think that every senior citizen was once young and vibrant and with it.

So today I had a bunch of errands. I won't go into the contents of my shopping basket at the drugstore, but it was depressing to look at. Next stop was Best Buy to pick up a Netbook I'd bought. Part of my cranky old person routine is that I don't want to deal with uninformed teenage sales people and I've found it easier to buy whatever it is on line and then go pick it up.

I did feel a bit better on the way out when I saw a father and his daughter who was about 9 or 10. The father's eye was drawn to something -- and he said to his daughter, "This is neat, what is it?"

Good question, Dad. It was such a role reversal, but the truth is a 10-year old probably is more knowledgeable than her 45-year old father.

The real trouble started at Staple's where all I had to do is make a copy of my driver's license. I knew you had to use a prepaid copy card -- no putting change in the machines. I see there is a machine to buy these cards, but I could not for the life of me figure out how to use it.

I finally went to the help desk and asked if the machine were working. The guy said yes, but he was helping someone and so I returned to the machine. I'd get so far, and then get stuck when you had to stick the bill/money into the machine. It just would not take it so I'm doing the straightening of the bill, trying another, trying to make it stiff so it goes in, but nothing.

I am not dumb when it comes to automated machines -- Lord knows I've used enough ATMs, but finally I spot a card coming out of a slot at the bottom of the machine and somehow you had to stick the blank card in, then the money and it took it. But "take card out of the slot A and put it into slot B" or anything like that ever appeared on the screen.

I don't have to do many copies so I only put one dollar in the card. I have my card and I'm ready to go and I go to a machine where someone had left a flyer TO ALL TENANTS complaining about a CVS store that compacts garbage late at night which makes big noise. Plus CVS stores food in the basement "and that's why we have rats and mice." Ugh.

I put my driver's license face down on the glass -- remember I just need one ten-cent copy of it -- and press START or whatever and out comes flying more of these TO ALL TENANTS flyers, as my card dwindles down from $1.00 to 90 to 80 to 70 cents and finally to nothing as I'm frantically trying to stop the machine.

So I screwed up that machine, had to go back and get another dollar, go to another machine which I realized was a color copier and although I was willing to pay 59 cents, I swear I couldn't figure out how to work it.

Back to a black and white machine, where again I put my driver's license down, and by now my legs are getting sore, I'm hungry and tired and I try to copy again and out comes a blank page, because I had put the license in the wrong section.

Ok, so finally I get one copy, made a second for good measure. Why? So in case I'm asked again for a copy of my license, I won't have to go back to Staples.

Seriously, the experience did make me feel like the ditzy old lady who can't work a copy machine. What added insult to injury is that every public copy machine place always has some crazy person endlessly making copies of newsclippings and other rants and the crazy person is better at working these machines than I am.

On a bright note, I remembered to take my driver's license out of the machine.

Best Buy Tip: In case you buy on line for a store pick up and you want someone else to pick up the item, you can do this. It used to be that the person whose credit card pays HAD TO be the one to pick it up. I noticed when I bought this netbook that you could select for someone else to do the pick up.

When I was there, I asked about it, and the (nice) clerk told me that you just label it as a gift and then anyone can go pick it up.

*****
Speaking of ill-informed clerks, I know Melissa is reading this, and I still laugh about a trip we made in Kansas City to a Best Buy/Office Max type store for a part she needed, or a special cartridge, or some small bit and she learned through trial and error that even though it seemed obvious that XYZ was what she needed, XYZ which she bought, tried and returned wasn't the right part.

So we go in the store and this young clerk approached us and Melissa said in a calm way "I'm going to ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, just say so. Don't guess at the answer." So she asks about the part and he comes out with "You need XYZ" and she put her hand (sort of like a "talk to the hand" gesture) in front of his face and said "Stop. Just stop."

We eventually got the right part, with the clerk claiming the entire time that it wasn't, but it was.