Invictas At Penney's, Idiots At Macy's...

So during my lunch break today, I took a swing over to the local mall to see if JC Penney had Invictas. They did. They had grotesquely enormous ones (RD’s). They also had some Speedways, Ocean Ghosts, and a couple which I’d not seen before. I tried on a couple, left my MasterCard in my wallet, thanked “Justin” for his help, and left. Not a huge selection, but not bad, I suppose. It’s the first time I’ve seen them at a retailer, so that was kinda’ nice. The problem was that they were selling them at full retail.

I decided to head over to Macy’s, to see if they had them.

What I found was not Invictas, but idiots. Two of them.

As soon as I walked into the general vicinity of the watch counter, I was approached by a pleasant, if not very eager to sell, young woman named Madeline (Idiot #1), who asked me if I needed help. I asked if they sold Invicta.

“Invicta? What’s that?”

“A watch brand”, I replied.

“Yeah, and not a very good one”, came the voice from “Todd” (Idiot #2), crouched behind the counter. “They’re not good at all.”

Idiot #2 then begins to tell me how the Fossil and Casio watches he did just happen to have were so much better. Then Idiot #1, following Idiot #2’s cue, got in on it. “Yeah, I hear about those Invictas breaking all the time” (this from the woman who, 30 seconds prior and by her own admission, didn’t even know what an Invicta was).

“So, you don’t have Invictas at all?”

“A store like Macy’s wouldn’t sell those. We sell nicer watches than that. Kind of like what you’re wearing”, pointing to my watch. “What kind is that?”

“It’s a Times Square Automatic.”

“Who’s it made by?”

Idiot #2’s ignorance and lack of expertise is now shining with the light of a thousand suns.

“Invicta. And you said you didn’t sell Invicta.”

“Um, you could try our other store. It’s bigger and they might have them. Should I call them for you?”

“Sorry for wasting your time, bro. I gotta’ get back to the office”.

A complete dolt who knew nothing, and another dolt who was too stupid to realize that she didn’t even know what she didn’t know, and followed the lead of someone who was, truly, no smarter than she was. I got out of there as another undoubtedly equally well-versed salesperson was approaching. Not wanting to hit the “idiot trifecta”, I made for the door.

So, I held on to my money, had a good chuckle, wasted some time, and have a semi-funny story to tell. Not a completely wasted trip.

I’m completely comfortable buying used watches, so I think I’ll just continue that route for a while. It’s nice to be able to see a number of models at once, though, and get a sense for just how big some of these Invictas are. If JC Penney decides to put them on sale sometime, I might go that way but, in the meantime, “pre-owned” works for me…