Machines Warehouse Sale

This morning someone posted on Twitter that Machines was having a warehouse sale at The Space, Citta Mall. I thought The Space is a fancy term for an open area at the mall, turned out it's a room. Planning to get an original casing for my iPad, on the cheap, of course because I am so stingy and has spent so much money on too many useless stuff.

Machines provided members of Machines+ (some kind of loyalty program) the privilege by giving them exclusive entry to the sale from 11pm to 2pm. I don't know how was the crowd but I think it could be quite huge. The sale was only open for the general public after that.

So after the Jumaat prayers, I sped straight away to Citta Mall which was only around 5 mins from the masjid by motorcycle.

Arrived at Citta Mall, parked my motorcycle by the road, with hopes that it wouldn't be knocked over by a passing car, and took the escalator to the upper floor. Honestly I just followed the flow. I was seeing people in droves taking the escalator to the first floor, so I just followed them, they took a right, I followed them, until they suddenly stopped at the middle of the hallway. In the front was a loooong queue. I couldn't even see the other end of the line. That was at 2:12 pm. Apparently people were already lining up perhaps since 11pm although they weren't Machines+ members.

This was at 2:44 pm. The crowd was already receding since the people coming out saying that all the devices were already sold out, so many in the line had a change of heart.

Then the staff started shouting to the people in the queue line that all devices but iPods were sold out, so more people abandoned their hopes of buying cheap iPhones and iPads and Macs, although they were ex-demo and refurb models.

At this point, I engaged in a serious thought process. Fall back or go forward? The line is still so long, and I just want to buy an RM20 iPad case. Is it worth the hassle? Eventually the better side of me prevailed. I should just stick to the line. I've spent almost half an hour standing and sweating, why not wait a little longer maybe, and get what I want. Rather than leave empty-handed and waste 30 mins I would never get back.

Not so long after but equal to eons in "queue years", the staff announced that the devices were all sold out. None left. Not even the useless, ugly iPod nanos. Only accessories were left. Some more people left the line and I got a few feet forward. Luckily.

At 3:20pm, I finally managed to get in The Space. Machines didn't lie. Many accessories were on sale cheap. I tried to get an original 30-pin connector, but there was none either original from Apple or OEM. Eventually I just grabbed a Dash Pro iPad case and proceeded to the counter.

Haih, we Malaysians and our obsession with promos.