It does get sillier

My first (and last, due to the events described below) attempt to buy an item online for 'instant pickup' from Best Buy resulted in me spending /vastly/ more time in the store than I would by just browsing.

After ordering online, the instructions were quite clear: bring my photo ID and purchasing card to the store and head to customer service. Fair enough. After waiting in line for ten minutes or so, the confused service rep 'fessed up that she couldn't help me as I hadn't printed out my invoice (!) and she needed that to 'find' the item I'd ordered.

I'm sent to a printer demo area where they let me check my email and print out the confirmation message from my order. It's worth mentioning for amusement that the printer was out of paper, and I had to show them how to load in a few new sheets.

Added bonus: I now have to walk back to customer service and stand in line for yet another ten minutes, only to get a different rep who tells me that the email, ID and card are not enough; no, I must now go find the item that I'd ordered online and bring it up to the service desk. In as polite a tone as I could manage, I asked what the point of ordering online for instant pickup is if I need to go pick it up myself. His answer "Not much." Oh, and I'm just lucky that the part I'd ordered wasn't very popular, since they didn't take one off the shelf for me when I placed my order... even though the confirmation email was very specific in telling me to wait until they did just that before showing up.

Right, then. I walk to the back of the store, grab the part I'd ordered, walk back to service, spend some more quality time in line, go through the payment/validation process, and leave. This last step is strikingly similar to what a normal walk-in customer would do, except my card was charged a couple of hours ago, as opposed to being charged at the counter.

So, in response to the first comment on this article: ordering online apparently does encourage browsing... of the snacks in the service desk line.