Blood in the Water

"Let me show you an expresso machine!"

The voice, brimming with the promise of sales pitches yet undelivered, was calling to me through the shelves at Macy's. We'd gone to the mall to search out a new espresso machine, and the model offered by Macy's was, to be kind, unsatisfactory. I said so, loud enough to be heard, apparently. As I moved to walk away, he called out to me:

"Let me show you an expresso machine!"

He was thirty-ish, white, earnest, wearing the universal uniform of sales reps everywhere: khakis, a white polo shirt, a goatee, and an uncertain panache. He was standing over a Tassimo - one of those single-serving coffee makers that uses a proprietary pod system and brews a pretty good cup. It is not, however, an espresso machine. (For that reason, among others, I would never buy one.)

Michelle, seeing the predatory glow in my eyes and knowing what's coming, takes the children and retreats to Minimum Safe Distance.

( Only seven more shopping days till Christmas... )

Blood in the Water

"Let me show you an expresso machine!"

The voice, brimming with the promise of sales pitches yet undelivered, was calling to me through the shelves at Macy's. We'd gone to the mall to search out a new espresso machine, and the model offered by Macy's was, to be kind, unsatisfactory. I said so, loud enough to be heard, apparently. As I moved to walk away, he called out to me:

"Let me show you an expresso machine!"

He was thirty-ish, white, earnest, wearing the universal uniform of sales reps everywhere: khakis, a white polo shirt, a goatee, and an uncertain panache. He was standing over a Tassimo - one of those single-serving coffee makers that uses a proprietary pod system and brews a pretty good cup. It is not, however, an espresso machine. (For that reason, among others, I would never buy one.)

Michelle, seeing the predatory glow in my eyes and knowing what's coming, takes the children and retreats to Minimum Safe Distance.

( Only seven more shopping days till Christmas... )