Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Boxing Day Nuts

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Boxing Day Nuts

    brucetiki's post reminded me of my own dramas on Boxing Day.

    To sum up, here are the trading hours on Boxing Day.

    What's open:
    -City shopping precinct and a number of shops near said precinct.
    -Outlet mall near airport along with nearby furniture store known for delicious meatballs.
    -coastal strip popular with tourists for god knows what reason.

    In addition, MOST country towns also had shops open albeit with restricted hours and/or services (for instance, up at the country town I was in at the time, the supermarket was open from 8am, the remaining shops weren't open until 11am).

    A friend of mine and I figured what the hey, we'll brave the city precinct.

    And cue the suck!

    -Finding a parking space was tough enough as it was...we wound up parking near a discount department store and going through said store. Along the way, we discovered that people will try and reverse into a park...in a multi-story carpark when there are several cars following close behind. My friend almost did the same, but upon several cars telling her otherwise, she wisely moved on.

    -Walking into a tea shop, we were greeted and told to "look for the DOT." The DOT indicated prices for reduced products. Sadly their tea hadn't been reduced, but mostly their cups and whatnot were. Unfortunately the whole thing was VERY poorly marked. Yes, we read the signs, but we couldn't work out which cups and accessories were what price. After browsing for about 1/2 an hour, we gave up and left, agreeing to try their sister store closer to home. (On a side note, why would you have chocolate tea and choc-chip chai?!)

    -Lunch was thankfully smooth, although some idiot decided that hey, it's Boxing Day and thus we don't need to clean up after ourselves! Cue several tables COVERED in trash and because the crowd was so thick, the cleaners had trouble getting in.

    -After lunch, we split off as friend wanted to hit one store and I wanted to hit another. I went up to a very nice clothing store that not only caters for plus-size women, but doesn't carry clothing designed for women 20 years older than me! Luckily they were having a sale-goodie, I found the dress I liked! The suck however, came from the other women browsing the store who were quite happy to let their children run riot around the store. The store manager nearly lost it and was ready to kick them out but couldn't identify the mother. I got my dress but left before I could see what happened.

    -Going back down from the carpark, we encountered several instances of people trying to reverse park AGAIN. Then we had the idiot who tried to reverse park his girlfriends car, failed and put a nice big dent in his bumper in the process.
    The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

    Now queen of USSR-Land...

  • #2
    Quoth fireheart View Post
    (On a side note, why would you have chocolate tea and choc-chip chai?!)
    Because it's 100% yummy!

    Comment


    • #3
      Quoth Aethian View Post
      Because it's 100% yummy!
      Too bad the tea store doesn't do samples of them!

      (their samples are nice though: they do both hot and cold samples.)
      The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

      Now queen of USSR-Land...

      Comment


      • #4
        Quoth fireheart View Post
        -After lunch, we split off as friend wanted to hit one store and I wanted to hit another. I went up to a very nice clothing store that not only caters for plus-size women, but doesn't carry clothing designed for women 20 years older than me!
        Shop name please! I'm always looking for this sort of thing. Either here or in a PM.
        "Bring me knitting!" (The Doctor - not the one you were expecting)

        Comment


        • #5
          furniture store known for delicious meatballs.
          Wait, what??
          When you start at zero, everything's progress.

          Comment


          • #6
            Now I want to go to one of their stores and eat meatballs *drool* they are sooooo good.
            The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth MoonCat View Post
              Wait, what??
              This, maybe?
              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY_Yf4zz-yo
              There's no such thing as a stupid question... just stupid people.

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth KatherineB View Post
                Shop name please! I'm always looking for this sort of thing. Either here or in a PM.
                There's two actually:

                City Chic: They're pricey, but they cater for sizes 16 and up. Just take note that they tend to vanity size somewhat, so their Size 14's are more like a Size 16. These guys are better for more "party" stuff, but they have some nice day-to-day stuff.

                Crossroads: The store in question, these guys cater up to Size 22. They cover pretty much EVERYTHING.

                Millers tends to be a mixed bag. I've found some great clothes from them before, but lately their dresses have trended towards the older market. They're better off for separate items (tops, skirts, shorts etc.) and bathing suits (seriously-I've had issues finding supportive bathing tops)

                Quoth MoonCat View Post
                Wait, what??
                IKEA does meatballs.
                Last edited by fireheart; 01-01-2014, 09:01 AM.
                The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

                Now queen of USSR-Land...

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth fireheart View Post
                  There's two actually:

                  City Chic: They're pricey, but they cater for sizes 16 and up. Just take note that they tend to vanity size somewhat, so their Size 14's are more like a Size 16. These guys are better for more "party" stuff, but they have some nice day-to-day stuff.

                  Crossroads: The store in question, these guys cater up to Size 22. They cover pretty much EVERYTHING.

                  Millers tends to be a mixed bag. I've found some great clothes from them before, but lately their dresses have trended towards the older market. They're better off for separate items (tops, skirts, shorts etc.) and bathing suits (seriously-I've had issues finding supportive bathing tops)
                  Ah, yes, thanks. Millers is definitely older market, or at least used to target itself that way. Only in the past few years has it tried to target younger people, but without changing much in their way of styles, sadly.

                  I haven't found much at City Chic, but will keep looking, and I will give Crossroads a try. Cheers!
                  "Bring me knitting!" (The Doctor - not the one you were expecting)

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth fireheart View Post
                    Cue several tables COVERED in trash and because the crowd was so thick, the cleaners had trouble getting in.
                    And if the crowd hadn't been so "thick", there would have been no need for the cleaners to get in, since the tables wouldn't have been covered in trash in the first place.

                    The suck however, came from the other women browsing the store who were quite happy to let their children run riot around the store. The store manager nearly lost it and was ready to kick them out but couldn't identify the mother.
                    Why did the manager need to identify the mother? The kids were causing the problem, they were the ones who needed to be kicked out. The mother can discover, after she finishes her shopping, that the kids are no longer in the store.

                    As an aside, if the crowds "down under" behave the same way they do here, why is it called "Boxing Day"? "MMA Day" would be more appropriate.
                    Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth wolfie View Post

                      Why did the manager need to identify the mother? The kids were causing the problem, they were the ones who needed to be kicked out. The mother can discover, after she finishes her shopping, that the kids are no longer in the store.

                      As an aside, if the crowds "down under" behave the same way they do here, why is it called "Boxing Day"? "MMA Day" would be more appropriate.
                      1) the kids were no older than around 5 years old tops. One was around 2 and kept running around, while her sister was chasing after her. This particular location was also not very secure.

                      2) because we are a former British colony that's why.

                      ETA: Despite all the horrible-ness of the day, the Crossroads and Target staff were wonderful. While the lines were long, they moved very quickly.
                      Last edited by fireheart; 01-02-2014, 08:50 PM.
                      The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

                      Now queen of USSR-Land...

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth wolfie View Post
                        As an aside, if the crowds "down under" behave the same way they do here, why is it called "Boxing Day"? "MMA Day" would be more appropriate.
                        Australia is a former British colony (more recent than the US of A ), and so shares a lot of traditions.

                        In Britain, from Tudor times it was traditional for people in service to the wealthy to have the day after Christmas Day to visit their families, since they were working on Christmas Day. Their employers would give them a box to take home holding gifts and bonuses, and sometimes leftover food from the Christmas Day feast, hence the term "Boxing Day". There are links to late Roman/early Christian traditions relating to the Feast of St Stephen, but they have never been conclusively proven.

                        In later years it became an official bank holiday, although those in service industries (the emergency services, hotels, restaurants, and many retail outlets) are back to losing a day's public holiday to serve the rest of us.
                        "It is traditional when asking for help or advice to listen to the answers you receive" - RealUnimportant

                        Rev that Engine Louder, I Can't Hear How Small Your Dick Is - Jay 2K Winger

                        The Darwin Awards The best site to visit to restore your faith in instant karma.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth wolfie View Post
                          if the crowds "down under" behave the same way they do here, why is it called "Boxing Day"? "MMA Day" would be more appropriate.
                          It's ok wolfie, I got it.

                          wolfie's pun alludes to the alternative meaning of boxing - pugilism, and suggests that if crowds are as strident there as they are here, it would be better to identify that day after a more rigorous physical contact sport - Mixed Martial Arts.

                          btw, fire, greek - Boxing Day is pretty well known here in the the States, especially amongst those who have Commonwealthy contacts here on the interwebz.
                          Last edited by sms001; 01-04-2014, 12:05 PM.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Actually, sms001, you got PART of it (the bit about the crowds not following Marquis of Queensbury rules). What did you miss? "Here in the States" - I'm in Canada, (former British colony), where Boxing Day is a statutory holiday, and I know what the origin of the term is.

                            A bit O/T, but from my (limited) knowledge of etymology, one of the traditional Christmas meats only got its name after 1066. I've seen (possibly here) a sig about the English language originating with Norman men-at-arms trying to chat up Saxon barmaids. Generally, the French names for both an animal and its meat were pretty much the same (boeuf, porc, mouton, etc.). Presumably, the Saxons would also use pretty much the same term for an animal and its meat. In English, the name for the animal "on the hoof" comes from the Saxon (peasants tending the animals), and the name for the "meat on the table" came from the French (Norman) - lords eating at the banquet.

                            "Ham" doesn't correspond to either, but it could easily be a corruption of the French name (Jambon). What's left after a banquet, that the lord would graciously allow a servant to take home to make soup from? The bone. If this was "ham bone", then the meat that had been on it must have been "ham".
                            Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth wolfie View Post
                              What did you miss? "Here in the States" - I'm in Canada,
                              I meant that as a contrast: that even non-Commonwealth (and notably geographically/culturally impaired folk) people in the U.S. often know of the holiday, but I can certainly see where the reading could imply that you were a Yank. Post is now edited to reflect that.

                              Quoth wolfie View Post
                              ...allow a servant to take home to make soup from? The bone.
                              sigh. I miss the days when butchers would give them away. mmmmmm.... split pea soup....

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X