I’d neglected a list of errands for longer than I could responsibly get away with. We needed more garden fencing, vodka for springtime tinctures, a few things at the co-op, and I had to return a phone charger that was less than two months old and already dead as a doornail. Forget planned obsolescence, the manufacturer didn’t even try for a brief window of function. My errand running took place on a rainy day, what’s one more after weeks of the same. At some point you can’t wait for the sun to shine and you just have to get on with it. Still, the mood out in the world reflected a tired people.
I made my way into the phone charger store and approached the register. I hadn’t saved my receipt for the meager ten dollar item, but for some reason I did have the original packaging. Placing my failed purchase on the counter I told the woman standing across from me that I’d bought it not long ago and it already stopped working, could I exchange it for a different brand? She replied, “Oh, I could have told you it wasn’t working, I take at least five of these in return each week.” Come again? I glanced over my shoulder and noticed the end-cap display by the register, the very one I chose this charger from two months ago, was still present and fully stocked with bins of this known-to-malfunction device.
“You’d think the store would discontinue sale of this item, knowing how faulty it is.”
“Yeah, you’d think.”
She pointed me in the direction of a charger that she was not in the habit of taking back in return. The cost was even a whole dollar less than the junk model. She pushed a bunch of buttons on her computer, asked for my photo ID and had me sign a slip with my full name, address, and phone number. I thought it was a lot of information exchanged for such a small thing. What do people returning computers go through? She said I was all set and apologized for my troubles. Sent me on my way. I hesitated, waiting for her to hand that one dollar difference over to me, but she didn’t. I know, it’s just a buck, but… it’s not their buck. I mentioned something about the charger I returned costing a dollar more than the one I was leaving with:
“Yes, but you didn’t have your receipt. “
Right.
“I realize that, but you acknowledged this is a faulty item, that you alone see several returns weekly… AND the store knowingly continues to sell something they know is problematic. I would think with or without a receipt, I would not be expected to absorb the difference here.”
“Yeah, you’d think.”
Nice girl to a fault, I did not want to call in the manager and cause a scene in front of the underpaid, likely over-skilled employee before me. So I left.
I pulled onto the four lane road in front of the store, silently cursing my lack of options other than this one big-box office supply mecca, the need for this blasted phone in the first place, the pavement below me and while we're at it, the few thousand pounds of metal and plastic surrounding me. Just because. At the next stoplight, waiting compliantly for the light to change, I peered inside neighboring cars, confirming that yes, the world still seemed tired. Resigned. Suddenly, a bunny appeared on the edge of the road. Brave little guy had more hutzpah than the rest of us. Without law of the land dictating his passage, he bolted across the intersection, bouncing and hopping in the most haphazard way, dodging cars left and right, eyes fixed on the other side. Three hops forward… a few to the right.. backtrack… keep going… dash to the left… freeze… almost there… he made it! Nothing but a bunch of steel and pavement and this one adorable fur ball in the middle. That bunny persisted and took his chances and gosh darn it he made it. Down the embankment and out of sight now, I imagined him hopping his way back to the quiet comfort of home. Well done.
Moments earlier I’d felt hardened and cynical. Now, I sat with tear-filled joy over a little bunny that could. I wondered if my fellow tired-looking humans at the intersection noticed his persistence and felt the same. I hoped so. The light turned green and I continued on, just one more creature trying to find their way home.