Inefficiency...

makes me CRAZY! Take yesterday for example. We left Columbus at 11:15 to head to IKEA. My mom and I took my 3 kids to Cincinnati to meet up with my aunt for a day of shopping.

We arrive at IKEA approximately 2 hours later and head inside with my aunt. Excited to put my 3 little people in the child care, I get in line. A line? What? It's Monday at 1:30PM. There is a line for the IKEA child care? Dang it.

So I read a sign that says 10 minute wait. Okay, I can wait 10 minutes. 20 feet to the left is a tv that is playing the movie CARS. Thirty feet to the right is a child size kiosk with games on it. I begin to walk to where my 3 kids are when a 22 year old IKEA worker says, "Mam, you have to be IN LINE." Huh? What?

She begins to explain to me that the wait is no longer 10 minutes but 30 minutes since I have 3 kids. She also says that I have to be physically IN LINE in order to be the next one served. I can't be shopping in the store (with my 3 hellions in tow) but actually IN LINE. While I stand in line, waiting my 30 minutes, many other women come by, frustrated because they had read the same sign that I read saying the wait time was 10 or 30 minutes. They thought, as I did, that they could shop and put their kids in after 30 minutes had passed. Have they never heard of a beeper system?

What kind of moron comes up with this system? Call me overly Capitalist but hey, don't you want people IN YOUR STORE SHOPPING? You don't want them waiting in line until AFTER they have chosen the goods they want to purchase.

Seriously, I was so freaking frustrated b/c we had just spent 2 hours in the car and after waiting 30 minutes in line, we only had 1 hour to shop. In any other store an hour would be more than enough but people! This is IKEA! 2 hours is barely sufficient.

With 3 kids in childcare, we whipped through the store, having purchased a few organizational items for my kitchen, including a slide out trash can for my recyclables. I've always wanted one of those. After the whole ordeal I came back to a familiar thought. I am so thankful to live in America. Ikea is not an American company and so why would I expect efficiency or pragmatism? You rarely find these ideals anywhere but our fine country. Yes, we value these to a fault but I appreciate that we as Americans value each other's time and try hard to make life worth living. Again and again I say, God Bless America! Lee Greenwood, hit it!