Last night I figured I would go over to the local WalMart to pick up a Nintendo Wii. I mean they are shipping 4 million of these things so I didn't think it would be a big issue to pick one up. Boy was I wrong.
First of all, my neighbor Jim called me up last night and invited me over to have a beer with him and his friend. I was a little leary of this since I knew that if I was too late to the store, I might miss out. So when 11:45 ran around, I split and had to explain that I was going to get this game system - but I had to say it without looking like a complete geek, So I said it was for the kids (half true). I hopped into my little XA and sped off to Walmart. I got there just in time to see the last one get sold. DAMN! I bought a copy of Legend of Zelda while I was there just in case other places sold out of that game.
I had to go to plan B and rush over to the next closest Walmart (I have 4 of them within 20 minutes of my house). I got there and they were sold out already. Plan C in effect - There was a Best Buy down the block from that Walmart, so I drove over there to see if they were doing anything special. All I saw was about 20 people camped out in front of it, and it was closed until the morning. It started to sink in that this was not going to happen. I honestly didn't think this was going to be a big deal. What was I thinking. OK, time for plan D - head to the next Walmart. I got there (I was told they had twice as many at this location because they do a higher sales volume. I had a glimmer of hope. I pulled into the parking lot and was hurried into the store. I asked the greeter where they were selling them. My heart sank as she told me that they sold out immediately after 12. Shit it was 1:00AM already. I had one more place to check for the night. The worst place of all - Plan E was a Super K-Mart. I had to muster up the courage to step inside. On the door was a sign explaining that they were not going to be selling any PS3's because they are a shithole, but there was nothing about the Wii. I walked to the customer service to ask the question for the last time of the evening. I got the answer I expected - all sold out.
At this point I realized it was gonna have to wait until next year. Shit - I can't believe I failed. Well, on the drive home I decided I would not let these failures stop this quest. That is what it was - a quest for fun. I'm gonna have fun and your gonna have fun. We're gonna have so much fucking fun we'll need plastic surgery to remove our god damned smiles. I decided to take up the fight in the morning.
Plan F - Go to Blockbuster video. I got there at 9:30AM and waited w=for the manager to arrive. I asked the dude about the Wii - he didn't get any. WTF? I didn't even think about it. Plan G was already on my mind. Gamestop was the next destination. THere were 8 people waiting outside. I might have a chance here. I pulled up and asked the line dwellers what the story was. They told me that the store only had enough to fill pre-orders, and that they were all pre-order customers waiting for ther store to open. OK, why are people waiting if they alread paid for it? Oh well - I'm the moron driving around the whole low country trying to score on e of these little shits. Plan H- Target. This was a short trip - in the same shopping center as Gamestop. I pulled up - asked a guy in a red target shirt about it - he said they sold out already. FUCK.
Plan "I" was a long-shot. I went back to Best Buy for the 2nd time in 10 hours. NO line outside - it was about 10 after 10:00am. Shit - I may have blew it I thought. Just to be sure, I parked the car and walked to the front door. A manager was at the door and asked the guy walking in before me if he was here for the console. My ears perked up like a dog as I heard the guy say no. I immediately piped up - "You still have Wii's???". "One left" he replied as he handed me a ticket to pick it up.
Holy Shit! How lucky was I? Well, not that lucky since it took 9 stops to finally get one. But still - the last one!
I gotta go play some Wii Zelda now.
