Those of us who are not total geeks may not realize that the Playstation 2 went on sale Thursday at midnight. So, like any good college student, plenty of people realized that since Wal-Mart is open 24 hours, we could go get one there.

Knowing how the lines for these things are, we called ahead at 8 p.m. to see if a line had formed. We were assured over the phone that there would be no line until 10 p.m. We got to Wal-Mart at 9:15 p.m. and joined the line.

From talking to the other people in the line, we discovered that several of them had been at Wal-Mart in line since 4 p.m. Wal-Mart lied to every person who called in and asked when the line would form. Sure enough, we had plenty of company at the end of the line when everyone who called showed up at 10 p.m.

At 10 o’clock, Wal-Mart employees told us the line would form at 11, not 10. We kind of wondered what would happen, since we were standing in a line already.

At 10:30 p.m., a Wal-Mart assistant manager came out to address the crowd. She told us we were already in line and they would not allow a commotion at 11 when they handed out the line numbers. Several members in line, myself included, were quite angry. We had been assured that the line would start at 10, and by 10 there were too many people in line. Sure, there was some yelling, but hell didn’t break loose until 11.

Oops, did I say 11? At 11, nothing happened. That’s lie number two. There was no raffle, which would have been the fair way to distribute the game systems, no take-a-number numbers, nothing.

At 11:15 p.m., an announcement told us the line would be forming at the paint counter. The paint counter is at the opposite end of the store as the customer service counter. That’s lie number three.

I don’t think I need to tell you their brilliant plan to prevent pushing and shoving was a total disaster. It was only postponed while everyone in line ran through the store, knocking over stacks of merchandise, knocking over each other and acting as disorderly as possible. Then the pushing and shoving resumed, in full force.

I did not get a Playstation 2 for the simple reason that Wal-Mart lied to me. They lied to plenty of other people, too.

When called, they refused to give out the names of any of the managers. I guess they know they are liars and are too ashamed to admit it. I’m going to find a new store that doesn’t blatantly lie to their customers. I suggest everyone who reads this to do the same.

Keith TwombleySophomoreComputer science and philosophy