Tracked and Targeted

I spend a lot of time in this chair. It's in our bedroom in a corner that gets afternoon sun, where I can look out on the deck and gardens and monitor things. I read there, I nap in it, I sit in it to put my shoes on, and it's where I plop down with my laptop.

It now needs replacing. It was old when we moved it, and the move was not kind to the glider mechanism, which is now bent a little and doesn't work very well. The fabric split open on one arm this winter, which is why the chunky afghan is there, hiding the rip.

I went online and found something similar -- a glider club chair -- on the Ashley Furniture web site. Neutral color, similar style, it should be just right.

Of course retailers track you when you shop online, and a window popped up to tell me where the nearest Ashley store was located in Santa Fe. Okay. I hate that, but that's how internet cookies and online shopping works. They follow your every click and know where you live. I decided I wanted the chair.

A few days later I stopped in at the Ashley store to see if I could look at a fabric swatch or even if they had that chair in the showroom so I could sit in it before ordering it.

And there was the very chair in the very fabric I wanted, positioned right smack at the front door, angled so that it faced the doors.

It's a huge showroom with acres and acres of furniture and there, out in front of everything else, was this little glider club chair. Like it was the featured item of the week, rather than the leather sectionals or handsome dining sets displayed behind it. This chair. In this fabric. Set so that it was the first thing you'd see through the doors from the parking lot even before you walked in.

I was pleased at finding exactly what I wanted right away, until it dawned on me that the internet knew. It knew I had shopped this item online, knew I lived nearby, knew which store I'd go to and sent them a message to find that exact chair back by the rockers and recliners and pull it out to put in the front door for me. Facing the parking lot. Expecting me.

The salesman was very helpful and I bought the chair and it will be delivered soon. I'm happy with my purchase and plan to do all the reading and napping in this new chair that I did in the old one.

I'll even sit there with my laptop and surf shopping sites, being followed and tracked and creepily targeted with every click I make. It's the world we live in now.