tick tick

Ok so my watch randomly stopped working the other day and I was at my parents' house in Ohio and since they live near a mall, I decided to stop on my way back to NY and get a new battery. So, I go to the mall and go into the first jewelry store I come to. The guy takes my watch apart but then discovers that he doesn't carry those particular batteries. So, I head back out into the mall towards the kiosk that jewelry store guy said has a better selection of batteries. On my way there I had to fend off a woman with broken English who really wanted to sell me this strong smelling, overpriced hand lotion. I'm carrying my watch in pieces rather than having them put it back together between stores and lotion lady is squirting various sprays and lotions that do everything from make your skin softer to make you glow in the dark and I have my fist clenched to protect my watch from these scary potions and she is grabbing me and squirting saying "you like?" The guy at the next kiosk selling cellphones is meanwhile giving me odd looks that were either meant to be sympathetic or hopeful that my clenched fist was going to come in contact with her nose. Finally, I make it to the watch place and they take my watch apart and call the guy back from break and put new batteries in and take a long time and decide that my watch is just broken. Life's tough. So I went to Sears and picked out a new watch and waited while the woman took some of the links out. Mission Accomplished, back to NY. Total time spent at mall: 2 hours.

So, I get back to my apartment and I unload the car and feed Mollie and I look down at my watch and suddenly I realize it's not ticking. Oh man! It's been sitting here for two weeks and I finally made it to a mall this past weekend. I told the woman in Sears what happened and she starts filling out this form to mail my watch away to be fixed. So, I explain to her that I actually live an hour from the mall and she gives me a voucher to go get a new battery at the little kiosk thing in the middle of the mall. Sounding familiar? I go to the kiosk and she puts in a new battery and it still doesn't work. Even more familiar. I go back to sears and return the new watch and pick out another new one. But when I get finished setting the time this one does not work either. On to watch number three, which manages to hang on at least long enough for me to set the time, go back to the kiosk in the middle of the mall to have the excess links taken out, and drive home. Total time spent at the mall this time: 2 hours (including a few quick stops for various other mall items).

Total time spent in watch procurement: 4 hours plus travel time, apparently time flies when you have no watch to keep up with it.