Patience Has Its Rewards (AKA The S&R Members' Treat First Day Post)!

I wonder why people without patience even bother. Twice a year, I remind readers about S&R's Early Bird Treat. That is the time you should shop if you have zero tolerance for lines. Members' Treat isn't for those lacking in tolerance. And yet, as usual, we have bickering know-it-alls, trying to beat lines, lecturing employees and security guards about what they think should be done, and so on and so forth. Please, people, if you hate lines, DON'T GO ON THE FIRST OR SECOND DAY!

Okay, now that I got that out of the way, let's proceed. 

The kids had school that day, and the nanny's kids are living with us (again!). So I had no one to go line up with me. I practically begged my friend and kumare, G, to go with me. Told her to be there by 3. Yes, AM. I was 10th in line. She, along with my goddaughter R and her SIL M, came at 330AM, and by then, the line had ballooned, and we were now #14 (that's because some friends had also arrived to join those who were in line earlier).

By 4AM, they allowed people to enter the S&R lot. We were guided by the guard to the side of the parking lot (just like last year) and was told to wait until he got the go-signal from the boss. By then, there were about a hundred people in line.

People after us waiting in the lot.

Very patient people.
That's G on the phone with my S&R Members' Treat care package consisting of ice cold coffee, some crackers, water,
and two cheeseburgers. I also brought a picnic mat (she's sitting on it, in case we had to camp out on the floor, LOL), a stool and giant umbrella.

While we were sitting down minding our own business, this lady started shouting at the guard. Apparently, she is pissed because there aren't any signs telling her where to line up. She went to the cordoned off area next to the entrance, only to be sent back by the guard because the line didn't start there. We could hear her from where we were because she was practically yelling at the poor guard.

Lady, get in line!

If only she saved all that wasted time! Instead, she went on and on about how she didn't know there was a line out here, and how she didn't see people lining up at the parking lot (there were more than a hundred people when she drove in). To which the guy at the start of the line retorted with "What do we look like to her, animals?"

She wasn't the only one trying to get one over everyone else. When we were told to move our butts and get to the cordoned off area, there was this other lady sitting there pretending she was first in line. I mean, why? Why even try when you know people were here first? She tried to argue her way by saying she didn't know there was a line at the parking lot. How? When that's the first thing you'll see when you enter? So of course the others yelled at her to get in line. She yelled back. Hello, respect the ones who were there before midnight (the first one in line was there at 1145PM the previous day).

The scene at 430AM. The guided walk to the cordoned off area next to the entrance.

Still at 430AM. Imagine all these people were waiting to actually spend their hard-earned moolah!

Aside from G, I had also asked my office mate and warehouse assistant L to join me that morning. We were getting tables for the store, and I needed someone to help me with them. I knew about S&R's "One Membership Card, One Pushcart" rule, so I needed extra hands in case I filled my cart. I told her to make sure she was there before 6AM so her arrival doesn't irk the others. She came at 530AM.  

The scene when the sun came out.

At 6AM, a female guard came to tell us we should move our queue to outside the cordoned off area. Needless to say, she received a ton of protest! One guy, who appears in the photo above, decided he was to play hero and started yelling at the top of his lungs, instructing the guard and S&R personnel what to do. Obviously new to this game, he was suggesting that the guard guide everyone to where she wanted us to go. Of course no one wanted to budge, so all that yelling fell on deaf ears. We were in an orderly queue. Why mess it up?

A group selfie before we start hoarding!

When I got back from bringing the stool and umbrella (and everything else) to the car, I noticed a lady in green walking to the front of the queue like she had some business there. She would walk to the front, then back to the back, then back to the front to talk to the S&R girls up in front, then back to where she was in line. Right before they started letting people in, we noticed her going back to the front where she loitered a bit. She didn't speak to anyone in line.

So when we saw her signalling for her troops (at the back of the line) to come up to where she was, we wondered out loud why she was suddenly there when she wasn't even part of the first 20 people in line! She yells at us to say she was there at 12midnight (nope, you weren't) and that we could even ask her girl friend who was first in line (the person who was first in line was a guy). She argues that she was told they could only bring in one cart, so she had asked her other relatives to join her so she could use their card to get another cart. Lady, if you were first in line like you say so, then why didn't you line up with your friend, or better yet, why didn't you ask your relatives to move up front with your friend before the line actually moved?! 

Right before the store opened at 730AM!

Oh well, you meet all sorts of people in events such as this. I guess some people really don't have it in them to wait lines out. So please, if you can't take long lines, sit the next one out, or shop on succeeding days. PLEASE.

It actually is fun to wait in line, especially when you see familiar faces - this lady from my post in 2011 saw me in line and made it a point to say HI. Yes, shopaholics unite! LOL!

The crazy queue to the cashiers at S&R Congressional. This was at 9AM.

We were done shopping at 830AM. Even got to buy food to bring back to the office. I was coded that day, so we had to sit it out until 10AM. But we had to wait for our tables (which needed to get claimed at the tire bay area this time around) because they needed to unload them from a container sitting out back. Took them roughly 30 minutes. A lady (who got to the tire bay about 15 minutes after we did) also claiming a table started complaining about how this sale wasted her time. She was saying how S&R wasn't organized when they had to make members wait - to get in, to pay, and now to claim her purchase. Ma'am, this is Members' Treat. Lagi pong may pila. Sale sila, so expect long lines. If you hate long lines, don't go.

A little rain won't stop these people from haording!

We finally got everything in the car by 1015AM. Just in the nick of time.

That same evening, I received a text from my high school bestie, V, who complained about how she couldn't get in S&R Aseana.

"If you hate long lines, don't go on the first day."


People, don't say I didn't warn you!

~~~ * ~~~

S&R Members' Treat ends tomorrow! Be there or be square. 

S&R MEMBERS' TREAT
September 25 - 29, 2013
8AM to 9AM

Bonifacio Global City * Congressional * Aseana - Baclaran * Alabang * Cebu * Pampanga * Davao

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