Ikea = Hell

Mike and I needed a few things from Ikea, so we headed the 25 miles to East Palo Alto last night. We figured on a Saturday night, it should be fairly slow. That was our first mistake.
We arrived just before 7pm, after dealing with traffic moving at a snail's pace during most of the freeway drive. It was packed. I haven't seen so many people in an Ikea since the grand opening in Atlanta. We made our way through the crowds and wrote down all the items we wanted. Finally we made it to self-serve pickup area.
The media cabinet we wanted was sold out. We went back up to pick out a new one and back down again. It was sold out. Back up again, this time we also found a mirror we liked in a showroom. It was no where to be found. We finally found a TV stand (purchased solely on the fact that it was only in one box and fit in the car) and last stop was the nightstand aisle. They were sold out. By this time it was 9pm and I was on the verge of a mini-meltdown. We headed to the line. It was long.
Mike then realised we had forgotten our coupon for $10 off in the car. We figured we had enough time so he headed to the car. When he tried to get back in they had locked the doors because it was after 9pm. He had to find an elevator he could sneak onto. Finally at 10pm we had the car loaded and we left. I will never go to Ikea again.