Comforting Deals

Full disclosure: I am a sucker for advertisements. It all started as a kid growing up in the 90’s, having the best catchy commercials thrown into my face by cleverly forcing themselves in between episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark and Rocko’s Modern Life. “Hey, where’s the cream filling?” I used to ask aloud, rummaging through the pantry in search of a Hostess cupcake. And yes, I was happily a Toys ‘R Us kid that didn’t want to grow up. But 30 years later, grown older with no cable subscription and not minding to pay the extra fee to skip the hemorrhoid cream commercials on Hulu, advertisements have found their way back to me in my mailbox and on my Facebook and Instagram feed. Now, I find that I'm a sucker for discounts rather than catchy tunes.

This was about two years ago, where after getting home from a long night at work, I had checked the mail and was only given a stack of coupons and store advertisements, which I have to admit I love browsing through. When I got passed the Subway and Burger King BOGO clippings that I put aside to save for later, I came across a Rooms To Go paper that displayed the most comfortable looking recliners I had ever seen. I work overnight as a Surgical Assistant in trauma surgery where I am on my feet for most of the night, running around frantically while tending to every patient’s needs, and I could just picture myself coming home after a long night to the recliner on the front page and falling into chair, letting the plush padding adjust to every stressed contour in my back. I’ll set that aside for later as well.

I then found myself on the couch mindlessly scrolling through Facebook for who knows how long, where I saw it again. A Rooms To Go ad on my Facebook wall. I could not, for the life of me, remember looking up furniture online, and only seeing it in my mail. Did I type it in and forget? Does Facebook know what ads I’m getting in the mail today? Is the FBI guy that’s watching me in my laptop camera trying to tell me I need to relax and to “Treat yo’ self!”

Perhaps.

Fine. I’ll cave. I clicked on the advertisement and browsed through the recliners for a good while, until Amazon decided that they wanted in on the action as well. Amazon’s sneaky algorithm had seen that I was looking to buy a chair and decided to throw in their options as well on a side banner wall ad. I didn’t even know Amazon sold furniture at the time, but I figured I might as well use my Prime delivery since I was paying for it. After sifting through tons of reviews, I decided on a reasonably priced grey recliner that I thought would fit well in my room. It’s not too bulky and still looks comfortable, with a reasonable amount of good reviews to go along with it.

Looking back, I think I should have gone with the original plan and went with the Rooms To Go option. Sorry, FBI guy, for not taking the original tip. While it was more slim and appealing to the eye, the Amazon recliner’s cushions have worn out quite a bit, and I feel that the bulky Rooms To Go plush option would have stood the test of time a lot better. I’ll just have to save up and hope for more tips from my stories to buy the next one.

While writing this article, surprisingly enough, I said aloud to my cat that I am getting quite hungry and since I’m feeling extra lazy today, I might just order some food and maybe watch a movie as well. Then I got a notification on my phone.

Touché, FBI guy. Touché.