Dollar Tree Stores are NOT created equal....

I promise you all that know me well, that after January, I will slow down with the crafts.
Really. We all know that from September to January, my brain is on craft steroids, all naturally induced, of course.
Some of you benefit from my "how to's, classes and works.
Some of you are sick of me.
Believe me, I know. It's as if my brain has taken me hostage and will not release me until January.
I was telling a friend that it has been this way for as long as I can remember.
Oh, to only see what the other percentage of my unused brain could really do...
What? Nooooooo, you say?
Ok, ok. I get it.
But until that time comes, let me rant.
Todays rant is brought to you by The Dollar Tree.
Where, apparently, they are not all created equal.
I follow several blogs , which in turn take me to thousands others. Where I stumbled on a blogger who was making something with the gigantic plastic zoo animals from the dollar tree. She lined them all up on the register conveyor belt, like they were in a parade and took a picture. She thought she would make the cashier laugh.
The cashier did not bat an eye.
But, it was the comments in this woman's blog that caught my eye.

"oooooh, I MUST do that!"
"Wow, your dollar tree has cool stuff!"
"whoa, what a fancy dollar tree you have, yours have conveyor belts to the register!"

Uhm, excuuuuse me?
A conveyor belt makes it fancy? Really?
What on earth does THAT Dollar Tree look like? Tables set up with merchandise all lined up?
That comment cracked me up, thus leading me to this blog.
My Dollar Tree store?
Yeah, it's a........it's a.........different.
For starters, it never has the merchandise that I am looking for when I see a DIY project where "you can get all your supplies from the Dollar Tree!!!".
No I can't.
Mine doesn't.
So I walk in all excited to get my supplies and go home and create.
Big. Let. Down. ( which, by the way , is a HUGE no no for my brain at this point)
It never has anything I am looking for, ever!
What it DOES have, however, is a large group of 5 or more younger-ish people standing outside the doors looking menacing. Holligans, if you will. ( my mother in law would be so proud I just used that word, God rest her soul)
I always have to mentally plan my response just in case someone should, by chance, grab my hand as I go in.
"hey lady, got a spare buck?"
What am I supposed to say to that?
"no......I have no change. I shop at the Dollar store"...?????
So I plan what my response would be : " maybe on the way out"....and then look for a back door exit.

WHY do they hang out there? The bus stop is across the parking lot. Go there!!!
Ok then, let's go inside now.
There are two normal looking women shopping the Christmas section. Let's go eavesdrop.
" Look Ruth, they have these plastic plates I can buy so when I give my cookies as gifts, they can just keep the plate!"  Her friend-----> " oooh, what kind of cookies do you make?" ( what, does she not get any?!?!)

Ruth: " Oh honey, I don't make them, I buy them here!"
Priceless.
So I meander down the aisles , taking it all in, listening to my brain tell me what this COULD be, only to find my Dollar Tree store does not have what I am looking for.
Surely there is other stuff I can use here?
Meander.
Meander.

Nothing. I do not want to make a red neck wine glass using a candlestick and a mason jar.
Not today, thank you.
So, I guess my question is.....how do they determine what they send to each locale?
They must have a populace demo graph telling them what we want/need. Right?
If that is the case,
I am out of luck. I need to drive to a Beverly Hills Dollar Tree.
Hahhahah, just typing that made me crack up.
"here we have Gucci, Hermes, Tiffany's...and and oh, let's not forget the Dollar Tree!"
What was I thinking?
I am not! Because my brain is still in/on creative mode! It will not allow me to actually make sense, it just wants me to create!
And I cannot when my Dollar Tree will not cooperate with me~