IKEA

In preparation for the coming of little ones into our home Jill and I realized that we needed some more furniture. So being the computer geek that I am I went shopping on line. Off to the regular sites...Lowes.com, HomeDepot.com, Sears.com but we didn't find much that we liked. Then off to IKEA.com. We found some good things but of course the things we wanted were not offered on line. We did find a few things but with the rush of the holidays the items would not be delivered until after January 15th. Well I decided that I would just go to my local IKEA store. We have two that are close and I am glad that you can check stock on line and after making sure they had the products, I was off to Costa Mesa. If you have never been to an IKEA let me tell you it is an experience. All IKEA stores are giant warehouses with al cool showroom and even a restaurant. IKEA is a Swedish company and you can get a nice plate of meatballs and gravy before you shop. It usually takes about 45 min to wander through the maze of displays and items and then the shopping really begins. I knew the drill and I entered through the exit to avoid the showroom and picked up my 12 boxes of furniture. Everything at IKEA is build it yourself and luckily I did not take after my dad in the tool proficiency gene. (No offense Dad, I still Love you) My dad's idea of a tool box included a butter knife and some tape. But I digress.... To make things "easier" (notice the quotes) the assembly directions for all IKEA products have no words. Only pictures. Now this is OK for me, a visual learner, but sometimes I can't tell what the "F" they want me to do. One time many years ago the directions on a lamp I bought show a guy putting part "A" into part "B" and then banging the two parts together on the floor. Being the direction follower I am I complied and broke the dang thing in two. I guess they had not factored the strength of the American man in banging things to the ground. At least they take almost everything back. Which reminds me, when I was in IKEA I had to go to customer service where I encountered a lady who wanted to return a bar stool which she purchased in the "AS IS" department. The lady would not take no for an answer and the manager had to be called...no luck with the manager and the lady was getting irate. So the store manager was called. He asked to meet the customer in the "AS IS" department where he promptly showed her the HUGE sign in four foot letters "AS IS: No Returns or Exchanges". The lady then looked like someone just ran over her dog and she turned tail and sulked out of the store. What a great moment. I wish I had the stones to do something like that. I give kudos to the store manager who may have lost a customer but gained my respect. Ok... back to my point. I have been spending the past two weekends putting together furniture from IKEA. At least I think it is pretty easy and sorta fun. If you ever need help putting any furniture together from that place just let me know and I will be glad to help. Well that's all for now. Have a great week!!