The strangest store I've ever seen

My right earbud broke recently, and anyone who regularly takes the subway knows it's important to have a working set of headphones. Regardless, I'd been wanting some for quite a while -- a quality pair that would block out noise and sound better than what came with my iPhone, which isn't saying much.

It was suggested -- by someone I met at a party who had a sophisticated-looking pair of headphones -- that I go to B&H, which has a location next to my office. This was a far cry from the Fort Worth-area Best Buy experience I'm used to. Almost everyone who works there is a Hasidic Jew, and throughout the store is an elaborate, Jetsons-like web of conveyor belts and elevators moving products every which way. Those are both a bit unexpected, but trumping both is the 12-step program that awaits one who wishes to make a purchase:

1. Find the area with the products you want.

2. Test the products.

3. Get the serial number of the product you want.

4. Find an employee.

5. Give the employee the serial number.

6. Receive a printout from the employee.

7. Go into a line.

8. Hand someone the printout and receive a new printout.

9. Take the new printout to the cashier's line.

10. Pay, and get a new printout.

11. Take the new printout to the line where you pick up the product.

12. Pick up the product.

And, when you're someone like me, there are twice as many steps because I'm too dumb to figure this kind of thing out without direction, so I always end up in the wrong line at the wrong time. But, what really matters is that I love my new headphones!!