Wheee, we have a Wii!

First off, let me thank all of you for the lovely comments you left me on my story about the Christmas tree. It really means a lot to me that you would take the time and effort to leave me a note. And I did finally get a tree skirt and "proper" tree topper for it. I'm sure you'll see that in the inevitable Christmas morning present photos. :-) But that's not really what this post is about! LOL

Yes, you did read the title correctly: we are the proud owners of a Wii. Accidental owners of a Wii might be a more accurate description of what actually happened. Allow me to explain:

DH informed me a couple of weeks ago that he had been seriously thinking of buying a Wii. He wanted to get one for Christmas to surprise me, but they are rarer than dodos in these parts, just like the rest of the country. No surprise there, he figured they would be. Buying a Wii has already been figured into the budget, we just have to wait until they come back in stock sometime after Christmas to buy one.

Today, after lunch with DH, I had to get my I-9 form completed by a notary public, since I am not "co-located" with my boss for starting the new job on Monday. I tried The UPS Store, but they are so busy during the Christmas season that they suspend notary services until after Christmas. That would have been nice to know before I drove out there, sheesh! But there is a brand new Wachovia right across the street, and being an account holder, I knew I could get the service for free, if I were willing to wait in the line. The Wachovia is less than a block from Best Buy, so I told him just to drive over there and kill some time while I waited in line. Then I would walk over, pick up the DVDs I need to get in the mail, and we would head home.

I found DH in the Wii section, scouting out games and "extras" and such. He was just looking, since there was really no need to buy those things until we have the actual box. You could see the longing on his face, but what was there to do? The sign clearly said they had no Wii (Wiis? Wii's? plural Wii) in stock (again, no surprise). I grabbed the DVDs, and we got in line.

We get up to the checkout, and as our cashier is ringing us up, the next cashier becomes available. This guy walks up and says "I was told to ask here for a Wii." It was like a homing signal! Suddenly, 10 different heads all swivelled in his direction. "Wii? Wii? Did you say they have Wiis?" It reminded me so forcibly of the seagulls in Finding Nemo that I literally laughed out loud. Even our cashier was shocked. "I didn't know we had any Wiis in stock!" They called on the radio, and a "lock room" guy comes up to the front, reaches into the back room, and grabs a Wii! You would have thought it was the crown jewels of Europe or something, the way people were staring.

As the "lock room" guy walked passed us, I snagged him. "Do you really have Wiis in stock?" He looked a little sheepish. "Well, ma'am, we got a shipment in this morning, but they won't go on sale to the public until Sunday. So if you want one, you can get one then. We open at 8; I would get here at 7." This was said more as an announcement so that everyone who had just witnessed "the passing of the Wii" could hear it. Then he leaned in a little closer and said softly, "But since you were willing to actually ask me, I do have just a couple left that I can sell you. Do you want one?"

I could not believe what I was hearing. It was like having a dealer or something! LOL I wasn't sure that DH had fully decided whether or not to buy one, and I knew that I had mentioned wanting one to my mom, knowing full and well that if they found one, they would buy it. So we told the guy thank you very much, but if we wanted one, we'd come back Sunday and get one. As we were walking out, I could see that this decision really wasn't sitting well with DH. He clearly *really* wanted one, he had just never expected to find one, much less have it be offered directly to us. He had resigned himself to not buying one until January, so this was very much an "impulse buy" on his part, something he is not good at. It took us about 10 minutes to call Mom, verify that they indeed had not purchased one, and go back inside.

Naturally, I could not remember they guy's name. I spotted the person I thought was him down an isle and walked up. "Hi, we were here a few minutes ago." Yes, ma'am, I remember. "Oh good, that was you. I don't suppose the offer of a Wii is still good?" He just smiled. He called two different people on the radio and told us to wait there. Within minutes, a woman walked up, looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was within ear shot, and said "you're here for the Wii?" I felt like I was part of a secret club or something! Yes, we are. So she handed us the extra controller we knew we would need, and she talked us into buying the game that we really wanted: LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, not currently available for the PC, which is what started us down the whole path of seriously considering a Wii in the first place (yeah, she had to twist our arms real hard there).

So I think Santa was smiling on us. Had we been just a couple of minutes earlier or later, we would never have overheard the guy at the next register, and we would have had to wait at least a month to get a Wii. Instead, without really having to try, we had one fall right in our laps for Christmas. I feel so trendy and "in" and cool! We haven't owned a current state of the art gaming system in over 20 years, since the Super Nintendo (yes, really!). The most recent system we bought was a Playstation, and that was a month or so after the PS2 came out. I'm so excited! I can't wait to actually hook it up sometime tonight.

BTW, if any local folks are interested, this was the Tucker Best Buy at LaVista and 285. They recommending being there at 7 AM on Sunday. Good luck!

Currently feeling: ready to play!