Doc Tales

November 20, 2019 — 

Okay kids, this week I'm going to teach you about irony. My apartment complex has teamed up with the Salvation Army to provide Christmas gifts for local kids. They set up an Angel Tree in the apartment lobby with tags that provide the kid's gender, age and wish list. That all seemed well organized and easy enough. However, as I explored the gift requests, it soon became obvious that I was woefully out of touch with today's kids. I wasn't recognizing any of the things on those tags! Now I know why my grandmother just gave me underwear and a $5 bill. Anyway, I digress. Way on the backside of the tree, I finally found a tag that said, "board games." I grew up playing board games. This felt right! The tag even listed the games the child wanted: Risk and Aggravation.

I immediately headed off to Walmart with visions of doing something good with very little effort on my part. Now, you have to understand, I have a visceral dislike for the toy section of any large department store around Christmas time. Setting my fear aside, however, I approached the toy section and located the game board aisle. This looked promising. They had every game imaginable! After my second pass down the aisle, I found Risk on a lower shelf. Unfortunately, after two more trips up and down the aisle, Aggravation was no where to be found.

Although somewhat perturbed, I was also somehow buoyed with the thought that a game I grew up with was still so popular that it was sold out at Walmart. No big problem, there was a Target right around the corner. I could still do good with only a little more effort (I needed shampoo anyway and Target has my brand). However, to my incredible disappointment, Target also did not have Aggravation!

To make a long story only slightly shorter, over the next 3 days I visited 3 Walmarts, a Target, and a Kohls. All to no avail. It suddenly struck me that the lack of Aggravation was incredibly aggravating! And that, boys and girls, is irony.

P.S. Standing in the middle of my third Walmart, I ordered Aggravation online from Amazon. Two days from now, it will show up magically on my doorstep.