Rite Aid is amazing me as of late and I’m starting to wonder what is going on in the world of photography. I get it, we’re all going digital, Kodakchrome film can only be processed in one lab in the entire country, and not that many people are using straight up flexible film cameras in general. However, if you are a pharmacy that sells disposable cameras, I’m thinking that your employees should know how to develop them. I bought my waterproof camera at this exact Rite Aid location on Friday and today I brought it back and they looked at me like I’d brought them a moon rock to develop.
No one knew how to turn on the machine and when they realized that my camera had a plastic shell around it (waterproof), they started handling it as though it was a bomb that they were trying to dismantle. I stuck around to watch the drama unfold and they actually broke a screwdriver in the process of opening this camera, which I’m now beginning to believe is actually encased in Kryptonite. Finally, one lady stepped up and said she would teach them how to develop the camera and told me to come back some time after 9.
I was just chilling in Versus when I realized that it was after 9:30 and I needed to book it to Rite Aid to pick up whatever pictures survived the screwdriver hacking incident. I had written down my phone number before I left and presumed that they would call me if some kind of unfortunate event occured in the processing of my film. Instead, I raced to Rite Aid only to find that minutes after I left, the machine had broken and that I should come back tomorrow. Call me a skeptic but I am very concerned about these pictures surviving this catastrophe of film processing.
Good news: Taube took lots of pictures so I will just ask her to send some of those along. Those are also most likely way more legit than my sketchy camera, so nbd. Mysterious wilskills people who read this but never make comments (that’s right, I know that it’s not just my parents reading this blog, there’s a chart I just don’t know who you are) : please surreptitiously let Taube know that I need one of those pictures for my editor’s picture in Versus. I’m emailing her anyways as I don’t have too much faith in the mystery grape vine but it would be pretty cool if that worked.
Bad news: Those pictures document my first ever outdoor rock climb, ”the flamingo” aka my wild maneuver on Sunnyside where Benson called out, “I don’t think my body moves that way,” and some cool cool shots from the top of Military Wall.
I can’t give you the full scoop on day 1 without any sweet pictures, so check back tomorrow and hope that perhaps the people of Rite Aid have managed to “make it work.”
p.s. I saved my clothes! Everything is now Milk Dud free thanks to an extreme process suggested on Yahoo answers that involved putting them in the freezer and then hand washing them with scalding water which my battered hands really enjoyed. Handy tip: warn your suite-mates if/when you put pants in the freezer or they will think you are either crazy, tipsy, or generally confused.
