PACKAGING
We usually keep our flashlight in the cabinet under the television. We do that to make it handy in case the electricity goes out. For those of you who don’t live in the Mahoning Valley, our electric company is First Energy. Remember the northeast United States and Canadian blackout 2 years ago? That was First Energy. It started 40 miles from here in Akron. Of course, that is the one time OUR electricity did NOT go out. Go figure. But on any given seventy degree’d sunny day, you can bet we will be setting our digital clocks and resetting our surge protectors as the power pops on and off.
For reasons known only to First Energy, several weeks ago my side of my street experienced such a power pop off. The houses in back of my yard had power, and the houses across the street had power. We did not have power, and I had paid the bill and everything. It happened at 2:00AM, a dreadful event for an insomniac like me. I franticly looked for the flashlight under the television in the dark. It was gone. I found another one. It didn’t work. So the next day I paid a visit to Walgreens and bought a new flashlight, which I intended to hide, so it wouldn't happen again.
The only problem was it was hermetically sealed. I have never seen packaging quite like this. The hard cover plastic molded skin tight around the shape of the flashlight and spread out to form a hard something or other with a whole in the top so the thing could be displayed. It was sealed into one solid piece with decorative edging. Also molded into the plastic shrink wrap was the cardboard sheet naming the product. It was a very nice red, white, and blue. It was a patriotic flashlight with BATTERIES INCLUDED. They were also encased in the plastic.
I tried to open it. There was no observable break in the seal. No tab to pull to break into this solid plastic sheet. I bent it, squished it, tried to tear it. It popped back immediately to its original solid form. I only managed to cut myself on the decorative edge thus requiring a lot of cold water and several bandages. I got a screw driver and tried to pierce it. The only thing pierced was my thumb. Then I got my Ginsu knife, which can cut titanium, but not the plastic armour protecting the flashlight and batteries.
Suddenly I noticed on the back of the top of the package, a drawing of a little scissors indicating that one should cut there. So I went to the kitchen drawer to get the scissors to try to cut the plastic. No scissors. I looked all over the house for those scissors, but only could find nail scissors which couldn’t cut my nails let alone the hard plastic shield guarding the flashlight and batteries.
So I got back into my car and drove to Walgreens to buy some scissors. There, next to the atomic bomb proof, plastic encased flashlights were the scissors, encased in the same plastic cover, with the same little scissors drawing on the top of the package saying “cut here”.
I bought some candles and matches. Medical Mutual is currently paying for my cut left hand and pierced right thumb. Only in America.
For reasons known only to First Energy, several weeks ago my side of my street experienced such a power pop off. The houses in back of my yard had power, and the houses across the street had power. We did not have power, and I had paid the bill and everything. It happened at 2:00AM, a dreadful event for an insomniac like me. I franticly looked for the flashlight under the television in the dark. It was gone. I found another one. It didn’t work. So the next day I paid a visit to Walgreens and bought a new flashlight, which I intended to hide, so it wouldn't happen again.
The only problem was it was hermetically sealed. I have never seen packaging quite like this. The hard cover plastic molded skin tight around the shape of the flashlight and spread out to form a hard something or other with a whole in the top so the thing could be displayed. It was sealed into one solid piece with decorative edging. Also molded into the plastic shrink wrap was the cardboard sheet naming the product. It was a very nice red, white, and blue. It was a patriotic flashlight with BATTERIES INCLUDED. They were also encased in the plastic.
I tried to open it. There was no observable break in the seal. No tab to pull to break into this solid plastic sheet. I bent it, squished it, tried to tear it. It popped back immediately to its original solid form. I only managed to cut myself on the decorative edge thus requiring a lot of cold water and several bandages. I got a screw driver and tried to pierce it. The only thing pierced was my thumb. Then I got my Ginsu knife, which can cut titanium, but not the plastic armour protecting the flashlight and batteries.
Suddenly I noticed on the back of the top of the package, a drawing of a little scissors indicating that one should cut there. So I went to the kitchen drawer to get the scissors to try to cut the plastic. No scissors. I looked all over the house for those scissors, but only could find nail scissors which couldn’t cut my nails let alone the hard plastic shield guarding the flashlight and batteries.
So I got back into my car and drove to Walgreens to buy some scissors. There, next to the atomic bomb proof, plastic encased flashlights were the scissors, encased in the same plastic cover, with the same little scissors drawing on the top of the package saying “cut here”.
I bought some candles and matches. Medical Mutual is currently paying for my cut left hand and pierced right thumb. Only in America.
Comments
It isn't a pretty picture!!
Leah