Yesterday, Kelly and I joined friends who had free passes to shop at the new Ikea store in Tampa before it opens to the public. It was our my first time in one of those stores, and it was every bit the harrowing shopping marathon I'd heard it was. For a store that boasts so frequently about how efficient everything is, having you proceed through the store in one long winding line for four hours sure doesn't feel that way, but every store has ways of getting you to buy more than you came for and Ikea has come up with a unique one.

Our friends bought quite a bit, but Kelly and I didn't spend money other than lunch in the cafeteria. I want to say that I'm proud of our self-restraint in holding back, but the real reason is that virtually nothing in that store appealed to us. I have friends with this design sense and there's nothing wrong with it, but personally, we were turned off by the tacky patterns and single bolds colors, and the flat boxy shapes, and modular look to everything. Kelly objects to the modernity and the feeling that everything in the store will be out of style in ten years; me, I just don't care for the look of it at all. I want to get into interior decorating and spruce up my home, and if I liked Ikea's style then I'd be all over their cheap prices and mix & match philosophy; I'd be in heaven in that store. I think that explains it for the people who do like it. Until we get some more money, it's back to Target for us.


Three Replies to Det är inte så farligt

Jackie Mason | May 4, 2009
[hidden by author request]

Kelly Lee | May 7, 2009
"Our first time"? I've been to them before. It's hot gay man watchin time!

Scott Hardie | May 7, 2009
That store has got to be difficult for employees to get across too, even if they know all the shortcuts. If you work on the first floor and the far opposite corner from the cafeteria and you get a fifteen minute break, how many minutes will you really have to relax?


Logical Operator

The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »

Dumb Question

Why is it called "word to the wise" when you're telling someone who doesn't know? Go »

Rowr

For all you Lost Skeleton of Cadavra fans... (If you haven't seen it, rent it, or at least watch the trailer there.) Go »

Comedian

The bad news: I have a miserable cold (thanks Charlotte) and I slept for an hour last night. The good news: I had to speak in front of a hundred people today. Why is that good? Go »

Day 178

People have been asking me how the diet is going. I'm still at it, although I cheat much more often than I'd like, so the daily caloric average is now 1500-1800. However, I've been stuck on one seriously cruel plateau. Go »

Abe, Honest

During my visit to Springfield last weekend, Kelly and I went to a historical reenactment on the outskirts of town. Every small city that can do so builds shrines to its homegrown celebrity, but Springfield takes worship of Abraham Lincoln to new levels of ridiculousness. Besides the museum with the ordinary tools used by Lincoln during his early twenties, the historical community had the actual buildings he slept in and worked in. Go »

Where the Hell I Have Been All Year, Part II

I have a job! It sounds silly to keep that a secret, and yet I did for two years. I was fearful of being dooced for the slightest remark, since nearly anything can be interpreted as inappropriate with enough reasoning. Go »