communication breakdown

Harry Potter and the Greener Pastures

Here's a play-by-play of my excursion to pick up Harry Potter Book 7 at midnight tonight:

11:50: Leave house. Destination: Wal-Mart.
11:54: Arrive at Wal-Mart.
11:55: Enter store and approach front of line. Begin walking to the back of the line...
11:56: ... still walking ...
11:57: ... still walking ...
11:58: Disgusted, I leave Wal-Mart. Destination: Kroger (across the street).
11:59: Arrive at Kroger.
12:00: They put a book in my hand as soon as I walk in the door.
12:01: While waiting in line to pay, I do everything I can to completely ignore the family in front of me who literally grabbed the book, flipped to the last page, read it, and begin commenting on what they find there. Not making this up.

12:04: Emerge from Kroger mostly unscathed and very happy I didn't wait at Wal-Mart.

I'm not even kidding, the line at Wal-Mart spanned the entire length of the store. For that matter, it might have wrapped around on itself. I have no idea because I never even saw the end - after walking past at least 100-200 people I bolted.

Book review forthcoming...