I made the tragic mistake today. A mistake I have made before. One I keep telling myself I will not repeat. After all, that would be insane (at least according to Einstein who defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.)

And yet – I did it again. So I have decided that the only way to avoid repeating this pattern of behavior is to make my self publicly accountable for it.

What was this mistake? I went into my neighborhood Duane Reade.

Is there a more annoying drug store chain in the city? I doubt it. Despite being in their new premises (across the street from their old one) only a few months, the place already looks in need of major cleaning and not insignificant repairs. The staff, by and large the same as they were in the old location, continue to stun me with their ability to reach new levels of inaction and/or slowness each time I go in (the single exception being the very prompt and helpful gentlemen who seems to have drawn the early morning shift straw every day for the last two years).

The selection of goods – that one might have assumed would expand or at least be better presented in a new and larger space remains “shot in the dark” at best.

Now that the weather is improving, I am recommitting myself to avoid Duane Reade (and their ridiculously redesigned logo that should have raised eyebrows in the legal department of Radio Shack) as much as possible.

I loathe them with every fiber of my unsatisfied shopper being. I was all ready to post lyrically about bike sharing programs (and still will) but now I am so grumpy I’ve lost my train of thought.