Ever since my first roll of 110mm film I have always gotten my pictures developed at a pharmacy. I don’t know why, its just something I do. Maybe a little redneck, but if it is, then yeeehaw, somebody find me some nice leather boots, a saddle and some rope. Anyway, getting to the point of this already quickly derailing blog post, I had problems today with getting my photos from the pharmacist, or… lab technician, or confused old lady, whichever. Around 10PM last night (or 9PM, or 5:48PM, no one seems to know exactly when) I uploaded my pictures to the CVS Photo Store via Picasa. I received a full order confirmation, stating that my photos would be ready to pick up by 11am today. At 2PM I went into the store and very confidently asked the photo technician (who I think was busy reading her latest romance novel or something) “Ma’am, I am here to pick up my prints, my name is Kularski”. She then looked in the bins (under “C” at first) and couldn’t find it, she then asked me to spell it… she looked again, still… nothing. I handed her the paper confirmation and she began looking for the order… she found it…. as a failed download on the Kodak system. I figured it was no big deal and I conveyed that I was paitient and would wait for them to print. I assumed it wouldn’t take long, and that they would just have to be redownloaded or something. The photo technician called several people to find out if they had been printed or to figure out what happened. A few moments later a cranky shift superviser by the name of Vonnie came and explained the difference between 1-hour digital photo and 2-3 day service. This pissed me off a bit, because she stood there, less than 6 inches from me and insulted my intelligence. I reassured her that I did it the right method. Moments and many confused looks later, people were calling Kodak to find out what had happened. After 2 hours of me waiting and the photo tech pacing between computers to try to pull and print my order, it was determined that it was beyond the capabilities of the staff on hand to correct the issue and I was asked if it would be ok if the photos were sent to the lab for me to pick up in a few days. Reluctantly I agreed to the alternative, purchased the CR2032 I needed for my JP Jornada and then headed home.
Here I am, at home, with no pictures and wondering if this is what my summer prints will be like for all of the stuff I do. Will I have to go through this shit on a weekly basis? Currently I plan to go along with things as they are and then inform the store on Thursday when I pick up my prints of my plans and make sure they can handle me once a week.