20% off

I tried for weeks to get psyched to use my BBB coupons. I have a stack of them. And today was going to be the day. I need a medium sized saute pan since the last one i had started flaking off and became generally nasty. Yesterday, I stopped in at Vashon's own True Value, a classic hardware store with a little of everything hand selected for functionality and Consumer Reports ratings. I was about to buy a pan when I had a pang of reverse guilt. Usually, it's at a big box that the pangs swell up, shame on you for supporting big industry just to save a couple of bucks and for the vast and candylike selection. This time, I felt paralyzed by the thought that I was being antifrugal, spending so much on a pan when the very same one probably costs less to start with at BBB and plus I have the coupon sitting there on a shelf waiting for me to use it and my office is steps away from BBB. I put down the nothing-special saute pan and left True Value empty handed. So today I packed off to BBB with a coupon in hand, walked through the front door and felt instantly woozy. There was so much on the shelves. Product stacked 16 feet high as far as the eye could see and all but tumbling into the narrow aisles. I couldn't really make out what it was I wanted or needed, began wandering without purpose. The heady mix of scented candles, cleaning supplies and something like rubber made breathing a chore. I started to sneeze. The space grew oppressively warm and humid. I left the coupon for some lucky shopper to find on a stack of plastic salad dressing shakers and ran away. The end.