The end of a love affair

I left work promptly at 5pm yesterday to try and get to Ikea before the bookcases sold out.

It took me 10 minutes to get a cab and another 30 minutes to get to Ikea. 30 looonnggg minutes. Traffic was atrocious.

So I got to Ikea 10 minutes to 6 and looked for the damned thing. Found the location bay but there weren't any there. There were stocks of the other colors, but none of the black-brown.

I went to the service counter and talked to Ikea boy. He couldn't seem to figure out the system as he was staring at the screen for 10 minutes. Finally, another Ikea boy came and sorted it all out. During this time, another customer came and asked for the same thing!

The other Ikea boy said there wasn't any left on the floor at the moment. He said they'll be bringing in new stock by the next day. And he said to call beforehand to make sure. I said, I DID CALL. Half an hour ago.

TCH.

So I decided to go check out the bargain section and lo, and behold, there were 2 bookcases standing there. One had white shelves in the middle. Of a black bookcase. Weird. The other, which was $50 cheaper, looked perfect. Aside from a couple of scratches inside one of the shelves, that is. And so I was standing there, holding on to it to make sure nobody else got it, when I called D. And told him the story. He was up for just buying the bargain one.

I didn't want to leave the bookcase's side so I had to wait around for somebody to help me load it onto my trolley. Once I had it loaded I went directly to the cashier to pay.

I had to wait another half hour for D to come pick me up. During this time, I couldn't leave the bookcase anywhere so I had to stick close to it. I couldn't even go to the toilet! I bought myself an Ikea hotdog & a drink and settled myself in one of the sofas.

I'm very happy this whole ordeal is now behind me. D's already set it up and has records already stashed in it (I'll take a picture of it). And the best part is, we didn't even have to assemble it!

Before all this, I used to LOVE Ikea. We don't have an Ikea in the Philippines and I still remember the very first time I stepped into an Ikea store (this was in Singapore). I thought it was SO amazing.

When D and I were nesting, we were in Ikea practically every weekend, buying knick-knacks and what-nots. Ikea proved to be very useful for us then.

But now, after this run around, I have lost my taste for Ikea. My love affair with this store has sadly come to an end. I thought we'd still have a few years together but it was just not meant to be. I have to let things be and move on with my life.

I would still probably visit Ikea once in a while to reminisce but it won't have that special place in my heart anymore.

Adieu, Ikea. It was good while it lasted.

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