ieve's Squall of Consciousness

Entry 18 - Bureaucratic Nightmare

(April 17, 2026)

I'm at Target. It's the most packed Target I've ever seen, there are people everywhere and the line of registers seems to go on forever. There's also a large sprawling lawn outside, with people sitting and lounging, and even more lines and service counter carts outside. All of the employees are rushing about, doing things as fast as they can, trying not to crumble under the huge crowds of people and the huge lines.

I'm trying to pay a bill for remodeling / construction. I went to a checkout and stood in line and got to the front, and... they tell me I can't just pay at a checkout, apparently my payment method is special and I have to go find someone who knows how to handle that payment method to help me. So I go looking.

This feels like being trapped in fucking Target Purgatory. I just need someone to take five minutes to help me with my (apparently) special payment and everyone is too busy, or they say "Sure I'll be right back" and then they never come back.

And I'm stuck there for fucking hours. I just keep walking. There are so many people, I'm just wading through crowds (my least favorite thing.)

After continuing my journey, at some point it seems like the crowds have disappeared, but so have all of the employees. There's just a few shoppers wandering about, filtering their way out. I need to figure this out, so I resign myself to going into the back employee-only rooms, looking for someone to figure this out but there's still nobody.

I hear a noise behind a door left ajar, and open it. There's a guy inside, presumably taking a break from closing the Target, and I explain my frustration and situation to him. He just asks "What kind of bill would you even need to pay for?"

I... don't know. This doesn't even make sense. Target doesn't do construction. Even if they did do construction they would probably like, send me a bill, and make it possible for me to pay them. Or like, have a customer service counter or something.

Thankfully the dog then woke me up because I was quite fucking finished with Target billpay purgatory. What the actual fuck, subconscious.

- 🜌

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