Ikea and Me

So, I have a platform bed. The mattress is fine. Actually the rest is OK, just a bit dated. I want some new wood stuff without the big dated headboard. I figured Ikea would have something I want. It turned out it did; but, it proved impossible to buy it.

Atlanta has had an Ikea for a year or so now. It sits next to a Brownfield, but that’s a different post. You have to wander towards Ikea on Seventeenth Street. Then you have to wander underneath it to find a space in the parking structure. I found a space within a hundred or so yards of the entrance.

Entrance is a relative term with Ikea as is Exit and Shortcut. Ikea has taken the non-direct route to heart. There’s always a way to get from here to there, you just have to pass a bunch of stuff you don’t want to look at.

It only took me about ten minutes to get to Bedrooms (note, Bedrooms does not include mattresses, they are over there,). Once there, they had a bunch of platform frames. They all included the “headboard, footboard, side panels” and something called something like the keel – the main support for the slats. All the little signs said make sure you get the slats because they weren’t included in the price on the little signs. Except you couldn’t find any mention of the price of the slats, or the fact that they actually existed, other than the fact that if you bought the rest of the wood, you didn’t get them.

Beyond the mysterious slats, there didn’t seem to be a way to actually buy the frame. There was no item number, no piece of paper with a UPC to take to the cash register (located about a quarter mile away).

So I went in search of a person that worked there. Not a lot of people work there, low prices and all. I saw an Ikea lady during my search talking to some other customers. She had a yellow shirt on that said Ikea. When I wandered back, she and the customers had disappeared. I looked for another Ikea lady without success.

Then I gave up. It took me another ten minutes to find the parking lot. A plus, on the way I passed the snack bar and bought an edible fifty cent hot dog, with the drawback that the low price got you the dog and mustard and/or ketchup, nothing else.

I don’t have a new bed frame; but, Tech, Georgia and the Falcons won (though the Falcons tried their best to lose). There have been worse weekends.