I often volunteer to be the gift-getter for the office parties. I don't buy them every time, but many times I'm the one closest to the store with the registry, or the one that happens to be going to a particular store, or the only one with a spare few minutes to stop. So, since I knew we had a shower coming up and I was going by Target, I volunteered to pick up the gift. After all, I had a wedding gift to buy also. After going into Target, I make my way to the computers near customer service where gift registries can be accessed. But after entering the name of the mother-to-be from the office, nothing happened. At the time, I think I must have typed it wrong and enter it again. Still nothing. I go to the next computer and enter it again, with the same results as before. I turn around and speak to one of the two women being the counter. (There is nothing and no one between me and the counters. Yet, they preferred to watch me move from machine to machine without saying anything.) The young woman looks up and just says, "Global outage." I laugh. "What do you mean?" "Global outage." "Do you mean the Internet is down around the world?" I ask thinking that the word global definitely meant something more than the store. "No, at Target." "I'm going to need to talk to the manager," I say. "He's over there," she points toward the registers. I find Guy, the manager, and tell him I need to print a shower registry. "You can't. there's a global outage," he says. GLOBAL OUTAGE???? GLOBAL OUTAGE??? I'm laughing by this time 'cause I find their description hilarious. What they really mean is that the Target Web site is down. Why couldn't they just say that?
What does this have to do with surfing? Nothing really. But, it does make me realize that maybe surfers have the right focus. My surf instructor, Brian, says it's all about the next wave and that nothing else really matters. I doubt a "global outage" at Target has ever put a crimp in his plans. Maybe it shouldn't put a crimp in anyone's plans. While mildly annoyed, I did manage to get a good laugh out of it. When the manager offered to call the corporate office to see if they could print out the registries I needed and fax them to the store, I asked "if the outage was global, how would they be able to get to it?" He looked puzzled and then, with a very serious expression, answered, "That's true, you're probably right." I decided that this global problem really wasn't that global for me, and, well, I could just stop by Target another time.
"One of the greatest things about the sport of surfing is that you need only three things: your body, a surf-board, and a wave."
surfer NAIMA GREEN, "Surfing: Rules, Tips, Strategy, and Safety"
P.S. After the grocery shopping was done, the "global outage" had been corrected. I was able to get the gift.
