IKEA and Starbucks & No Cigarettes

[akmnstr]

why do you assume they are impersonators?

Because I'm am the last real hippie!  Peace brother!

[AJ]

...and for those in the SF Bay Area...Berkeley Bowl. Damn...never seen so many rude hippie impersonators in my life!   (they had great produce and fish sections though)

YES



I don't mind crowds.  I credit my time in Asia as a child.  RAT, you may not mind NYC Metro when crowded, but have you ever been pressure cooked in the Hong Kong (or Tokyo) subway during rush hour?   It feels like you're being vacuum sealed into the crowd that's surrounded every inch of you.

[ducatiz]

Because I'm am the last real hippie!  Peace brother!

So the AK in your name doesn't stand for "Avtomat-Kalashnikova?"

[Triple J]

why do you assume they are impersonators?

Because a true hippe (if there are any left) couldn't afford to shop at Berkeley Bowl. 

[ducatiz]

Because a true hippe (if there are any left) couldn't afford to shop at Berkeley Bowl. 

they are using the Five Finger Discount

[derby]

I feel your pain Rat.  I took my wife to get a catalog from IKEA in Tempe on Sunday.  Never again..especially on a weekend!!   I could feel my blood pressure rising as soon as I saw the parking lot.  We were there for at least 15 minutes.   That time included me dropping her off in front door, turning around in a handicap spot and leaving..sans catalog.  Apparently, they ran out of them until mid-August.     She's going by herself next time!   

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_CA/virtual_catalogue/online_catalogue_splash.html

Order a catalogue or brochure
With the upcoming release of our new catalogue we will no longer be accepting orders for catalogues. Keep an eye out for the new catalogue in your mailbox! We will be accepting orders again on September 1st.

[RAT900]

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_CA/virtual_catalogue/online_catalogue_splash.html

Order a catalogue or brochure
With the upcoming release of our new catalogue we will no longer be accepting orders for catalogues. Keep an eye out for the new catalogue in your mailbox! We will be accepting orders again on September 1st.

yup that was about as clear as the pathway through their store

[triangleforge]

Usually when we have to go to the Phoenix airport or some other unavoidable nonsense down in the Valley, AM & I make the pilgrimage to IKEA and the Trader Joes near Scottsdale. TJ's there is simply packed with the Scottsdale version of the Stepford wife - tanned, tucked, & toned to the point you imagine invisible, individual airbrush artists following them around making every cheekbone & breast just a little too perfect. Our favorite game there is "Real or Fake?"

Up here in our little piney central-Arizona burg, it was front page news - for days on end - when the city council ponied up a bit of ransom money to bring a Trader Joe's to town. We'll still get to play our game there, but since we've got mostly retirees round here, we'll be playing "Real or Fake?" about their teeth, hips & knees.

[Mother]

oddly enough a crowded subway car doesn't bother me

cold comfort of a moving coffin

[slowpoke13]

Damn, I leave for a few days and get called out... Glad I checked back in.

Don't like 'em? Don't go. Seems simple enough. There are plenty of places I don't like to go to. Guess what I do, find other places to go and spend my money.

Don't like the post...don't read it...seems simple enough...plenty of others to read and comment on 

Ohh, I loved the post. I'm having a blast with it! That's why I commented on it. If I didn't, I wouldn't have (like many other threads).

I don't understand getting all worked up about it. If you knew it was gonna suck before you went, what do you have to complain about? Why did you go? "The wife dragged me?" Really? She doesn't have a driver's license? She afraid to leave the house without you? "If I didn't go with her she'd be upset." So, she blackmailed you. That's healthy.

same holds for you...why the need for the ad hom and negatively conclusive presumptions about a circumstance that you have no background on.....that's healthy

Healthy? Like letting a couple of stores and their established customer base and menu get you all worked up? The only "background" I have is what you provided. Otherwise, I asked questions. The basic question still holds true; "Why did you go?" Did you not know? If you didn't know know, the mistake is understandable.  My recommendation is to avoid Ikea on the weekend. I do. If I go, I try to go early afternoon during the week. My schedule allows it.

Luckily, the Ikea near me is in the same shopping center as Costco, and Lowe's. So, I can knock them all out at the same time (can you say exciting day?). And, guess what, I pick up a grande java chip frappachino before I walk in. The Starbucks is right around the corner and the barista is very sweet too. I think she gives me extra whipped cream. Sometimes, I just go wandering through Ikea to see if they have anything new and nifty. Ohh, and I highly recommend you try their cafeteria in the morning. They have crepes with lingonberry preserve that provides just enough yum to help me push through another trip in the "maze" as it's being referred to. If it turns into a late day, the swedish meatballs aren't too shabby. Both are nice and cheap too.



Really, does it matter all that much?


absolutely not...was just venting about annoying places...

you apparently worked yourself up into a lather...

what's that about? (I won't insult you with speculations) 


Vent away. I know I do when things bother me. But, I also figure if I'm going to go venting on a public forum, not everyone is going to agree with me and I may even get called on it.  Usually it is even educational (i.e. did you know if you go in Ikea and don't go up to the maze, you can go right into the self serve area? But, you miss the cafeteria).

The only lather I get is from my moisturizing honey mango shave cream I picked up at Trader Joe's. I've been using the stuff for over 12 years. It really is great stuff. I was turned onto it when I worked at TJ's before I joined the Navy.

Whole Foods is a cakewalk...Trader Joe's is where all the aggressive shoopers are going! 

Trader Joe's isn't that bad (see above).

I don't mind crowds.  I credit my time in Asia as a child.  RAT, you may not mind NYC Metro when crowded, but have you ever been pressure cooked in the Hong Kong (or Tokyo) subway during rush hour?   It feels like you're being vacuum sealed into the crowd that's surrounded every inch of you.

I have been pressure cooked in both the Tokyo and HK subway. HK was only a few times. Tokyo was a regular basis. I actually didn't mind the Tokyo line in the summer as the windows open and the train moving isn't bad. But, dead of winter, sardine can, heaters on, everyone in jackets. Then stepping out into the snow covered platform.
よいよ無し、よい無し全然

I think maybe.... you missed the point (and/or have never attempted to quit a lifetime of smoking)  .

I didn't miss the point. Just having some fun with it. I had only been smoking a few years when I quit. Wasn't too difficult and was pretty much cold turkey. I still smoke an occasional cigar or hookah. Dad's a lifetime smoker and his house reeks of cigs and stained walls, clothes, cars, etc. So, I happily encourage people to quit.

[muskrat]

and I have lusted over every blue-eyed blond Swedish Super Model. 

Who hasn't?   

[ducatiz]

Who hasn't?   

Tiger Woods?? 


Well, not lately, I mean...

[RAT900]

I grow weary of this thread...

it has outlived its proper level of NMC uselessness

so I apply the lock and send it off to the back pages

someone else's turn.......

[ducpainter]

Norwegian pine?  

I grow weary of this thread...

it has outlived its proper level of NMC uselessness

so I apply the lock and send it off to the back pages

someone else's turn.......

Since I was on vacation...

I'd like to add....



 

[Randimus Maximus]

Seems appropriate to post this here: