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Promise kept

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 10, 2008

I was where I did not want to be: standing in a big discount store late on a Sunday afternoon smack dab in the middle of shopping season waiting on customer assistance that would never come.

It started with a promise that was, at the very least, of debatable origin.

"Daddy, can we get a Christmas tree this weekend?"

Technically, I could have weaseled out with the phrase "we'll see," which every parent knows is code for "absolutely not." But I did admire her manipulative skills, approaching me at a vulnerable moment in a close basketball game I was listening to and securing what could be interpreted in family court as a promise.

"OK, we'll get a tree."

"If you're getting a tree, you might as well get a new tree stand," said my wife. She was right. The old metal stand was an annual source of unsightly leans and outright topples. "Might as well," I said, with as much holiday enthusiasm as I could muster.

Normally, a tree stand is the kind of item I would buy at my favorite hardware store, a place where I can walk in and say, "Steve, I need this thing and I don't know what it's called but the toilet won't flush without it" and five minutes later I'm walking out with the thing that makes the toilet flush.

But it was late Sunday afternoon, that store was closed, and my choices were limited.

That's how I found myself standing in a big discount store late on a Sunday afternoon smack dab in the middle of shopping season waiting on customer assistance that would never come. Unable to locate a stand, I had to leave the Christmas section and trek to fabrics to find someone to help me.

"I'm looking for a tree stand."

"That would be in the Christmas section."

"Been there. I'm looking for someone to help me find a tree stand."

"CUSTOMER NEEDS ASSISTANCE IN THE CHRISTMAS SECTION."

No assistance came, no stand was found. I did fulfill my promise though, returning home with a tree, the biggest, most beautiful tree $30 and a grocery store bonus card could buy.

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