Wal-Mart in Covina

(from the LA Times)
...
Becky Willison, 31, of Covina was one of them, standing watch over a boxed Cabbage Patch Kids doll. She hoped to nab the $9 item for her 15-month-old daughter Mackensie because “it’s smushy,” she said.

The former middle-school English teacher, who was laid off in June, saved $550 of her unemployment checks for Christmas shopping.

“You’ll never know when you go,” she said. “It’s really bad, and just really slow.”

But Willison had been out shopping for hours, starting at 4:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day at K-Mart, before detouring home for dinner. She then struck out for the Coach factory outlet in Ontario at 10 p.m., where she picked up a $330 red purse. Next was the line at Toys R Us, which she abandoned at 1:30 a.m. for the Wal-Mart queue.

“No guts, no glory,” explained her partner in crime, mother-in-law Carol Garnett, 57, of Covina.

This Is My New Bank

Before, it was Washington Mutual.

SERIOUS BUYERS ONLY!!!

I've previously posted on the difficulties of selling items on Craigslist. I've since learned that buying items can be just as difficult.

Last month I looked to see if anyone was unloading soon-to-be-worthless ski lift tickets. Mostly there were a glut of sellers trying to get $10 for widely-available $20-off coupons, but there were a few deals to be had. One was a half-price ticket to Jiminy Peak, the closest mountain to me, and since I already had some free junior tickets here, this seemed like a good deal. There were two possible red flags: one, the seller was also offering $20 in cafeteria credit for $19; two, the message said "SERIOUS BUYERS ONLY!!!"

I called the number (Manhattan area code) and reached Alexei. "I don't have the ticket", he said in a thick but understandable Russian accent, "my friend Sergey in Albany is selling them for me". So I called a second number. This time the connection was crackly and intermittent. "I'm on the slopes!" I could make out. "Call again and leave a message!"

But Sergey never called back. I left a second message the next day, and one more the day after, but I would never heard his voice again. In the meantime I found an even cheaper ticket on ebay at a "Buy it Now" price.

I wouldn't have given this incident much more thought, except that Alexei wouldn't leave me alone. "Did you reach Sergey yet?" he would ask, on my voice mail. "It's five minutes before noon, so he's almost ready for his lunch break - that would be a good time to call him". Or, "he's just gotten out of a meeting" or "he is driving home from work now - excellent time to reach him". Why did he have known so much about his associate's daily itinerary? Or is Russian one of those languages that lacks a conditional tense, so that context is all that distinguishes "he's just gotten out of a meeting" from "he may have just gotten out of a meeting"?

I eventually told Alexei I was no longer interested, but from time to time I checked on the Craigslist posting. Every few days, he dropped the price by a few dollars, while leaving the 5% cafeteria discount intact. The snow was melting fast - which would disappear first, the snow, or the ad? Alas, it was the snow. At season's end the ticket was offered at about 80% off.

(My theory: When I reached Sergey on the slopes that day, he was using that lift ticket. He figured, incorrectly, that no one would ever answer his stupid cousin's stupid classified ad. Later, munching on Bosco Breadsticks washed down with Red Bull, he thought he probably should send his cousin some money, but then remembered how he looked on skis and decided he didn't deserve it.)

Decree

Citigroup, the ailing US financial giant, shocked the market yesterday by announcing that it would cut 52,000 jobs by the second half of next year. Vikram Pandit, the bank's under-pressure chief executive, said yesterday that the total number of employees would shrink to about 300,000 by the end of June. Mr Pandit announced the cost-cutting measures at a "town hall" meeting for staff designed to set out a clear direction for the financial conglomerate, which has suffered big losses from exposures to debt securities and rising bad debts.

I let it pass with John McCain, but henceforth, town hall meetings shall only refer to those meetings which occur in town halls.

Market trends

I used to have this sort of vague idea that I would let my son pick a stock and buy a few shares of it as a way of providing a lesson in economics and finance. I just checked, and in his lifetime the S&P 500 is now up a mere 1.1%. That's worse than my interest-bearing checking account's 0.1% APR. But more of you reading this blog know Isa. In her lifetime? Down 16.2%.