September 12, 2005

Record Shops (circa 1974)

This is something everyone needs to know, now that I have actually seen with my own two eyes Christmas stuff on sale at Costco, and lay-away season is upon us.

I special-ordered a CD from a record store. I put down a deposit. I got a receipt, showing I deposited the money. I put the receipt in my wallet for safe-keeping. After several season changes, I found out that the store couldn't get the CD. That was fine with me. I already bought two of them, one for my lovely wife and one for my son, the one with the computer-twisted mind.

That was four, five, ten months ago. Today, I decided to get my deposit back. I took out the receipt; actually, there were three of them ... One from the record store (Go fuck yourself! They were record stores when I was growing up. As far as I'm concerned, they are still record stores ... check out the movie High Fidelity, not to find out what a record store might be, but to see what an air conditioner will do to you if you continue with your puerile demeanor. The other receipts, as I recall (Oops, forgot to close the parentheses.)) (There. Are you happy now?)

The other receipts were from Olive Garden and Office Max, the relevance of which shall become crystal clear in several moments.

All I can tell you is that this sort of thing wouldn't have happened in the record store era. I pulled the three receipts from my wallet and unfolded them. The record store receipt, an iridescent white cash register tape about 3 inches long, was utterly blank, front and back. All evidence of my deposit, of my having even been in that business establishment, had disappeared.

Then I noticed that the receipt from Office Max was totally blank on one side with the repeating red Office Max logo on the other. So, I could prove that I was in Office Max, but the IRS wouldn't care where I had been, just about how much I had spent.

And that was my writing on the Olive Garden receipt. The inscription was 57.43 and 10.50 11.50 13.00 directly above it. Other than those two notations, nothing appeared. I couldn’t prove that I’d spent money with this receipt, let alone that it was for some kind of business dinner at the Olive Garden.

Disappearing ink? Black magic?

How about heat-sensitive printers … I guess the extreme heat generated by my right buttock transferred through the soft, supple leather of my wallet and did something to the receipts.

Be aware of this significant consumer problem, so that you can avoid the pitfalls of modern technology, instead of learning the hard way.
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Miscellaneous margin notes: Could falling into the pool have anything to do with the disappearing ink thing? Or falling into the pool the second time?

Posted by Bill at September 12, 2005 11:56 PM
Comments

I've noticed the disappearing receipt syndrome before. It happens on other important historical documents too, like my script for the voice over I did for a CDrom a few years ago.

I think you should have said you fell in the pool twice at the beginning, or is this a legal tactic?

Posted by: Anji at September 13, 2005 01:43 AM

Did you try lemon juice over an open flame????

Posted by: Cowtown Pattie at September 13, 2005 09:26 PM

I'm glad someone else spends time thinking about the disappearing ink on receipts. I occasionally wake up in the middle of the night, wondering what the IRS will do with my pile of blank receipts.

I thought of you at 5am today as I was making my Costco list. I remembered that you had said they have their Christmas items out, and I felt mildly traumatized at the idea of rifling through them in September.

Posted by: moonandsun03 at September 14, 2005 11:32 AM

it does suck but yes, heat sensitive printers..I noticed it a few months back when a receipt in my fast food bag was blank where it had laid against the warm burger I had purchased..being female my buttocks do not get close to my wallet..thank god :)

Posted by: Dusty at September 14, 2005 04:44 PM

I have not experienced this type of thing here but I am certainly going to watch out for it now especially in light of what moonandsun said. I am keeping receipts of all office supply purchases, printing, photocopy etc for my new business. It would not help me much if I submit blank receipts for tax purposes.

Posted by: Michelle at September 14, 2005 05:09 PM

I think the real question here is: Why do men wear put their wallets next to their asses?

(The falling into the pool thing would be a non-issue if your wallet weren't in your back- ass- pocket when you took the plunge.)

Posted by: lucy at September 15, 2005 12:05 AM