It’s been 5 years since 2020.
We all know what that year was but for me, the events of that year led to circumstances in Kingston, New York that I still have a hard time wrapping my head around today.
Everytime this date comes around, I reflect on it. This was the day where I was economically VIOLATED. I can’t even call it getting ripped off. I was completely run amuck, bamboozled, etc.
I was working in the mountains of upstate New York. The weather was absolutely scorching, even 1100ft above sea level. I was landscaping and doing work on roofs getting beat up from the sun – just absolute mayhem for my clothes. At the worst possible time, the washing machine I was using there broke and I already had a pile of clothes accumulating. It was at a point where handwashing it was no longer an option. Anyone qualified to fix a washing machine was already on vacation for the Independence Day holiday.
Trudging down the mountains was a bear in and of itself. Given my schedule, I had to be really efficient with my time. Kingston, New York was a one stop shop location that had all the stores I needed for groceries, additional items and boxer shorts – the latter of which I was in dangerously short supply of.
I figured that the Kohl’s department store was the perfect place to get said boxer shorts. I didn’t even look at the tag as I already wanted to go back home. I was tired and sweaty from the day. When the cashier rung the purchase up, I had to ask him if there was a mistake in the price. A pack of boxer shorts can’t surely be that expensive. He scanned it again and confirmed to me that it was indeed the price.
Being in Kingston, far from where I was staying I could have certainly just left. But the thought of having to stay up and handwash my clothes was just too unbearable to me (there was also a problem with the local town’s laundromat). And at 6:00pm with the sun starting to go down, I knew the mountain roads were going to get that much darker and narrower the longer I stayed in the city looking for a better price. I begrudgingly handed over my bank card and confirmed the purchase.
I believe that out of that pack, there are only 2 pairs that I have retained to this day. I don’t know if I would have done anything differently if I had the chance. Probably the only thing I would have done was just drive to Albany instead. 😂
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