Target in Paradise

I told myself I wouldn't go the first week. It'd be too crowded. Plus- I don't have time to go to Target. But then Tracey called with the Tuesday Target Traffic report- and all systems were go. Phil had offered to take Lily into clinic and my plan was to go to the commissary. He did not think Target was open until the 8th. As most people didn't- that was the advertised opening date- rookies. I could drive 30 minutes to the commissary up north that opens earlier- oooooor I could go to target and putz around and then go to the closer commissary that opens later and is on the way back from Target. Really it's more logical to go to Target. I mean I need a new loofah and I haven't seen them at the commissary. Call it retail therapy.

So I throw Bella in the car and we are off. I even drop off library books along the way (3 are due on the 6th...1 was due on the 2o something- better!). It's a good size Target. They have tons of extra staff on hand- even in the parking lot . I finally rejoin with Tracey and have to bum some space in her cart- they were out by the time I got there- 400 all in use- so much for not busy! It was like Christmas in March. The paradise tax is definitely in effect- everything costs a little bit more. But it was fun to walk around and I found some reasonable storage caddies for our kitchen pharmacy. I get to adopt the cart as Tracey is out the door and Bella is snuggled almost ready for a nap- it's 1130- I need to go to the commissary before she crashes. We head out. Not to much damage to the pocketbook nothing frivolous. Then I get to the car.....and this is what I see.

Mother bleeper. We just had it into the shop 2 days ago. YGTBSM! Seriously? Really. Murphy- you really wanna pull this card right now? Really? The security guard drives up and tells me they noticed it awhile ago and they had already started the report. He went to get the manager. One of the parking attendants comes up to me and explains that he saw the cart hit my car- he tried to stop it but the wind caught it and it was going too fast. Ugh, thanks for trying. I doubt he tried, but you never know- he seems like a nice guy. The regional something something manager with trainee regional something something manager come up to the car. Both have high quality superdeedooper zoom lens cameras- I explain what happened- he says he though I had filled out paperwork and goes to retrieve the guy with the paperwork. They did not take pictures. The guy with the paperwork is a 7 foot Samoan dude who probably could lift my car. He has a little trasformers memo pad and takes down my name and what happened. No number. No address. That's it. I wouldn't be surprised if I looked and saw I bunch of squiggles on the pad. He says they probably won't do anything(I figured) and I needed to call the police. I really don't want to go there. It's not going to amount to anything. I tell him there was a witness and he goes to "formally" interview the witness. All the while I know this is going to cost more than my trip to Target and that I am being punished for going(That Catholic guilt thing again). I call the dealer to get a quote- $300-400. For a light? Outstanding. A cop is driving around and the security guard sends him my way. He fills out a damage report. The ball keeps rolling- really I just want to go home. They aren't going to do anything. He does point out that there are no signs saying they are not resposible for damages- so they should in good faith reimburse the cost, but it's a civil matter. And I might wanna get that fixed asap- it's a citable offense. Yeah great. I would much rather spend that much IN Target. Heck a nice little gift card will suffice.....Bella is screaming she's hungry- it is now 1:30- where did the 2 hours go? We go back inside- I want to make sure they filled out this supposed incident report- 2 managers later- I finally get a competent person to take down information and file a complaint. She offers Bella an icee while we wait. I get her a personal pan pizza. She ate the whole darn thing. Meanwhile I see every neighbor, preschool parent and acquaintance I've ever had flooding in and out of Target. Kinda amusing actually. All in all the employees and managers were really nice about it, it's just standard for my luck these days. The manager comes out with a little cool pix camera and takes 2 pictures. I don't expect much to come out of it- but I can hope can't I? I get home and Phil goes and gets the part and fixes the car. The part was half the cost of the quote and it took him less than a half an hour to fix it. I think he needs to rethink his occupation- I guess we can't beat the health benefits of the military though......

I did overhear an interesting side conversation. A lady asked the manager about why there weren't any sale items. She explained that on the mainland, there was a Target on every corner- they had to offer incentives to get people into that store over others- here they had no competition. Exactly. That's what we've been telling them for years-can someone please pass that along to Olive Garden????And Cracker Barrel- that place would make a KILLING here.

Lily would love Target. Maybe I'll wrap the van in bubble wrap(from walmart- hee hee-cheaper there) and give her the tour.....maybe next week... her counts are getting low- nope- next week is treatment...maybe the week after. We'll get there.