God I Miss The F$^*()##! Shopping Mall...

**SteyrAUG** · 05-13-20, 23:34

I admit as a young adult I began to hate it. I wanted people to get out of my damn way so I could buy the crap I need and go back home. Guess it's true you don't appreciate what you have until you have something different.

So I'm printing out yet another return label so I can return another piece of crap to Amazon for the umpteenth time because despite what the listing said and the glowing reviews of "verified purchasers" I ended up with more crap that doesn't work, wrong size or just so horribly unacceptable in quality that "Made in China" doesn't quite cover it.

So I'm still going out the door, only instead of the mall I have to drive to UPS to drop off more crap from the internet that I'd have never considered buying for two seconds if it was on a shelf in front of me.

And now I have to try and find the same shit only well made and without paying 5 times what it should cost. And just when I find something that might be ok, I have to register on the website and pretty much have to become a computer programmer to figure out why this particular website won't save my shipping info even though every other website seems to be working fine.

Sure I could hit customer service and explain my difficulty registering with the website with "Steve" who is "pleased to be helping me kindly" but somehow I don't believe he is going to solve the mystery of why the crappy website won't save my registration information no matter how many copy / paste solutions he sends me. And honestly if I can't get the damn website to save my shipping info, I probably don't want to give them my paypal information anyway.

It's just too bad there isn't a big building full of stores that sell the things I might want to buy. Because if that existed, I'd have made all my purchases already. And as much as shopping in the mall used to sometimes suck, I never had to update my java program to buy some crap for my living room.

Yes there was even a time when Wal Mart was full of acceptable quality items, often advertised as "proudly made in America" at prices even I could afford when I was working my ass off for not a lot of money. What happened to that?

Nothings really cheaper with the internet anymore. Take music, sure it's .99 a song. But that's about what we used to pay for an album with 8-10 songs on it, 8.99 or around there. If it was a greatest hits compilation, those were sometimes only 6.99 only you actually had a vinyl record in your possession rather than some digital info that is emailed to you that costs almost nothing to distribute.

It's so bad I actually even miss mall food. It wasn't great, but it was edible and slightly better than the fast food crap from everyplace else.

And here is a great one, last week I actually managed to get a decent door mat to put my shoes on when I come in from outside. Only some jackass actually ordered VINEGAR from the internet and whatever kind of container it was in broke open and UPS delivered a box saturated in vinegar to my door. Who the hell orders vinegar from the internet? Why would you not just buy that at the store?!? So now I'm waiting on a replacement for something that would have actually been ok and I have to find a box to send the vinegar door mat back to Amazon with it.

I think I have four different items from four different orders going back to Amazon this week. I'd shop at Wal Mart but unfortunately it's the same shit, but at least I know it's crap because I can see it on the shelf in front of me so I just leave it there.

**Arik** · 05-13-20, 23:59

I really don't like online shopping unless it's something I already know. Even then. If I can't see it and feel it im not buying it. Luckily for me I'm not a big purchaser anyway. Think I used Amazon less than half a dozen times since it's been a thing. I did order a revolver holster last year for a class and some speed loaders for a Colt since the gun stores seemed to only carry S&W K frame. That's it! I can't think of anything I need that I have to use Amazon that often.

**Diamondback** · 05-14-20, 00:03

I feel your pain, man... I've had a few almost tremor-free weeks so I've started to consider trying to build models again... but no effing hobby shops thanks to Inslee, and the kinds of paint I use most etailers won't ship.

I know, it's a first-world problem, but... maybe I should see if the ten-year-old Vallejo acrylics I used back when I was custom painting Axis & Allies ships are still good.

**WS6** · 05-14-20, 00:08

Put me in the other basket. I hate being around so many people and love being able to order things off of Amazon and not have to go among them.

**OH58D** · 05-14-20, 00:12

The Mall was always a novelty for us in rural New Mexico. Something to check out when you hit the big city. Mail Order has been the way of life for us. The railroad came into this State from Colorado in 1880 and the Sears & Roebuck catalog was a window to the rest of the world.

I just wonder what has happened to all the Chinese Massage Chair operators in Malls nationwide? Those Goomers never spoke English very well, and I figured they were all Chi-Com Sleeper Cell military in the US waiting to be activated. Tin foil stuff for sure, but what a great plot aspect to include in some future movie?

**Diamondback** · 05-14-20, 00:13

To elaborate on my prior, I hate dealing with people too--but right now ALL the stupid is concentrated in the few open places ALL the time, I'd rather it be spread out among the crowd and diluted.

**Diamondback** · 05-14-20, 00:19

Originally Posted by OH58D

I just wonder what has happened to all the Chinese Massage Chair operators in Malls nationwide? Those Goomers never spoke English very well, and I figured they were all Chi-Com Sleeper Cell military in the US waiting to be activated. Tin foil stuff for sure, but what a great plot aspect to include in some future movie?

Good point--I've long thought that if I were the PRC preparing for the Long March, I wouldn't raise an army over there and risk getting it across the Pacific, but rather send a ton of deep-cover sleepers to build lives here, spawn a buttload of kids here and indoctrinate/train them here. Make *us* pay for and support the forces that once they achieve sufficient strength would invade from within like a metastatic cancer.

That's actually pretty mild for the kind of underhanded schemes in their playbook... look up a book titled Unrestricted Warfare, written by a couple senior colonels in the PLA's war college, sometime, it basically advocates and espouses economic/terrorist warfare of the kind we're experiencing now.

**chadbag** · 05-14-20, 00:38

Steyr

Amazon is actually making you send the vinegar mat back? Usually when there is a problem like that they either send me another one and tell me to keep it, or refund me and tell me to keep it. About the only time I've had to actually send stuff back is when I just decide I don't like it or need it after all.