The Joys of Nesting

Last night I went to Ikea after work to buy a bunch of furniture stuff. I've gotten pretty much all I can from Hema and Blokker (I think the employees at those stores in Leiden are sick of seeing me), so Ikea was next. Things went ok initially. I made it around the store in a reasonable amount of time, not being distracted by things I didn't need. I found the things I'd been planning to get and headed towards the warehouse. I dragged some boxes onto my cart (who decided to put the most ungainly, heavy boxes on the upper shelf?) and got in line at a register. Then I saw a sign showing what cards they take for payment - and Mastercard wasn't on the list, which is what I was planning to pay with. I thought there must just be some mistake and stubbornly stayed in line. But when I went to pay, I was told they don't take Mastercard. This is the second time now for this to happen at a Dutch store, the other time being when I was buying my fridge. And the same reason was given, that it's too expensive for them to take it. What the hell?! When did this shit start?! Visa and Mastercard - they're givens. If a place is going to take credit cards, that's what they take. American Express and other cards, you can't be sure, but Visa and Mastercard, you should be safe. But now some Dutch stores, big chains at that, turn away Mastercard, which is what I am issued from my Dutch bank. I just spent months relying on my card while travelling abroad, never having any problems (except when I reached my limit, but, well...) and now I'm in Dutch stores unable to pay with my Dutch card from a major Dutch bank. Fucking ridiculous.

Fortunately, there was an alternative to turning my cart around and putting back the things I couldn't pay for. There was an ATM there and I used it to take out cash using my credit card. But that costs me extra money and makes me an unhappy customer.

I took my purchases over to have them delivered, and you don't have much choice regarding when they'll come by. You don't have any choice actually, and I've been stuck with a delivery date of Thursday, time window to be determined on Wednesday, and they'd better not come in the evening because there is the last Caesar show Thursday night and I do not want to be late.

I shuffled out of Ikea, feeling pissed off and like I maybe gave myself a hernia while pulling boxes off of shelves, and then I noticed that it was time for the train to Haarlem to arrive and there was no way I could get to the platform in time, so I missed that train and sat around for half an hour. I swear I have the worst luck. Or maybe it's just that I focus on the bad things, which I'm sure some people would say. So here's a good thing for me to be happy about: on Wednesday I'm having a couch delivered (I swear I'll be home half of this week waiting for deliveries...). I went to a big second-hand shop in Leiden on Saturday and in the end decided to buy this couch, even though I forgot my tape measure, so I had to hope the size would be ok for my apartment, and despite the couch having a horrendous floral pattern fabric. I reasoned that I should get it because it was really comfy and I can buy something to throw over it. Plus it only cost 35 eur, which balances out some of the new crap I've had to buy. So by the weekend I'll have a couch and, from Ikea, a proper mattress to sleep on, both of which are very good things indeed.