[Chefelf]

Woman Too Busy for Free Shopping Spree

MADRID (Reuters) - It would be a dream come true for many: a prize of 6,000 euros ($7,118) to spend on a three-hour shopping spree.

But one Spanish woman turned down just that on Friday, saying she was too busy.

The woman had entered a Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites) competition to win the spree, part of a promotion backed by 600 shops in the southeastern city of Murcia.

But when she was told she had won, she said she would have to think about it and then failed to show up to claim her prize.

She said she had "diary problems" and was "too busy to waste the morning," a spokesman for the organizers said.

The money went instead to the runner-up, 28-year-old Piedad Lopez.

http://story.news.ya...ain_shopping_dc

[Supes]

Gobsmacked! I am truly gobsmacked!

This pretty much sums up the world as we know it...

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

[K1NGWARREN]

Cmon, Elfie, I think you're being too hard on this lady. I mean, who among us hasn't had "diary problems"?

[Chefelf]

Very true. Often times that little tiny lock has gotten jammed. I haven't been able to write in my diary for days on end! Why do you think I started a blog in the first place?

[Heccubus]

THIS is news? What the hell is wrong with the press!?

[Chefelf]

What the hell is wrong with that woman?

[srmoore]

What the hell is wrong with that woman's press?

I mean, her clothes are all wrinkled!

(Ok so I haven't a clue as to what I am saying)

[Bananer]

That's just insanity. It's free money, I think you can take a break from your diary to do a little shopping.

[Chefelf]

Oh, Bananer, you have so much to learn. Have you ever known the joys of keeping a diary? It's a sensation that cannot be replaced by there mere dollar sign.

[sinister grinner]

[QUOTE]cannot be replaced by there mere dollar sign.

....you mean there mere euro sign. i guess. anyway news gets more retarded by the second. hey, that made me think of an interesting fact.

[platinum_child]

Personally I think there was a mistake in the translation from spanish to english. I think she might have been having diarhea problems...... that would make more sense to me, nobody wants to be the center of attention during a 3 hour shopping spree when you have the runs....

[civilian_number_two]

Personally I think there was a mistake in the translation from spanish to english. I think she might have been having diarhea problems...... that would make more sense to me, nobody wants to be the center of attention during a 3 hour shopping spree when you have the runs....

I'm sure you're right that it was a mistranslation from Spanish to English, or maybe thwe woman even gave her reasons in English while not knowing much of the language. I doubt, of course, that the spanish words for "diary" and "diarrhea" sound alike as they do in English. I'm not going to bother to look it up, but I doubt it.

My bet is she wanted to say she had "schedule" problems, since her next comment is about how busy she was. One's schedule, or scheduler, or dayplanner, I figure could be mistranslated by a rabid press type into "diary." Suddenly it's a story goofy enough to be repeated. Less repeatable would have been "I can't take the free shopping spree because I can't get out of work. It's end-of-quarter, and I need to do the budget;" or "I'm having open-heart surgery;" or "My parents are in town for one week and we're seeing their mother that day in the rest home."

Anyway, I'm glad the news got reported and we got to see it. Silly or not, it's nice to know that sometimes people have better things to do than go shopping, even shopping with free money.