I went to lunch today with the girls in my family today at the mall, which was nice, especially since I got to see my new niecelet! She’s so perfect. I can’t even explain. So tiny, so sweet. Lunch was delicious (Breadwinners at Northpark! I had the artichoke chicken melt on tomato basil bread… Oh my God.), I got some quality girl time in, it was just nice overall.
And since I am rarely at the mall anymore, I thought it would be a good time to take my watch in and see about getting a new battery for it. It’s only been about 8 years, so probably about time, right? So I took it to the little Fast Fix where I got my engagement ring fixed after it got run over by a car (….yeah), and they did a beautiful job then, thinking maybe I’ll get it fixed and have it back in a few minutes. So I get there, and I walk up to the counter and kind of have to grab the lady’s attention and I ask, “How much would it cost to get a new battery?” She takes it in her hands, looking it over, and asks, “Well, do you want the now price, the 5 year price or the forever price?” My first thought is, there are three different kinds? Geez. So I ask about the now price.
And then, I kid you not, she looks me dead in the eye, completely expressionless, and goes, “Fifty.”
My heart stopped. I’m pretty sure my mouth dropped open. “Fifty dollars?” I asked. And after she gave me an affirmative answer, I asked her what the prices for the five year and forever watch batteries were. “Fifty, seventy and ninety.”
I was completely horrified. No way. No freaking way. Fifty dollars for the most basic watch battery? Aren’t watch batteries about five dollars if you do it yourself? PASS. At this point I tenderly took my watch back, trying desperately not to snatch it from her hands, and said, “I think I’ll take it someplace else, thank you.” I could not get out of there fast enough. I’m still pretty infuriated, to tell you the truth. I know that there are things in Dallas that are expensive unnecessarily, but this seemed like highway robbery on a whole new level. Highway robbery if someone pointed a nuke at you, if you will, and said, give me all your money or else. What the hell.
Instead I ended up giving my watch to a family member who will take it to her jeweler who will do it for under $20. I’m happy, she’s happy, the jeweler will be happy, good all around. I don’t mind paying for good quality work, but there are excesses I just can’t afford. I will admit it is a very nice watch (a gift for my 18th Christmas), but it is long past the warranty and it is definite overcharging for a five minute job that I would do myself if I could figure out how to get the back off of. (I tried levering it off with a swiss army knife, but like a complete dumbass, I grasped the sharp side with the pad of my finger and sliced it open so I’m not trying that again. Whoops.)
Please forgive me if this post is missing any letters. The P, 0 and enter buttons on my Mac have all decided to only work spontaneously so I’ve been putting them in manually and I type by feel so I may have missed them in a place or two. I leave you with an up close and personal picture of Jabba the Hutt sleeping on my broken keyboard:
Bring me Solo and a cookie. Bring them to me. (quote via Kasey d.)