It's a good thing I got the extended warranty. Otherwise I would have had to pay $225 for a new fan and $75 for labour charges. Yipes.
So I haven't had a computer for three weeks. In that time, I've watched a load of movies and played a load of video games. Just because I was cut off from the online world and my hard drive, which has a lot of crap I didn't think I'd miss that much.
GAH! 400 new messages! All within the past three weeks! I hate all of you responsible for these messages.
Deleted, for the most part. Such a chore...
Okay, so here's the news for the past two weeks.
* * *
Today, for some reason, my ankle started to act up. I went gimpy. Almost to the point where I was considering not going into work, because of the pain.
Luckily, I did go to work. Tom called in sick, and so I closed by myself. And my computer was back in from repair.
In any case, I'm not sure why my ankle is acting up. I don't think I slept on it wrong.
Maybe it was the bathroom session of Metroid Fusion. My foot was in a weird position for that...
* * *
Flying to Victoria for the wedding tomorrow evening.
I'll be taking some pictures and posting them in my personal webspace, if you want to see a spiffed-up Jago. Since the tux was fitted for me, it should be quite comfy. Can't say much for the shoes I'm to wear, though.
Jo, I'm not sure if we'd be able to meet up, considering there's a sea in between us. I'll make sure to call, mind you...
* * *
Had the choir Spring Concert two weeks ago. It was a decent enough concert, if a lot longer than normal due to all the speeches.
I whispered to Grank during a speech, "Make sure I never participate in a 60th Anniversary concert again."
Had some pics taken of me with some friends attending the concert. Man, some of my friends just can't have bad pics taken of them. It's nice to have photogenic friends, but the goof standing next to them doesn't photograph quite as well. That's why I'm usually behind the camera, I guess...
Sure was nice to see some faces I haven't in a while. And I was able to give girlone her belated Christmas gift, finally.
* * *
D! moved back into his shiny new place, along with a new dishwasher, some boldly painted walls, and the like.
I was impressed, let me tell you. It's quite the makeover...
I was pretty happy to have my place back to myself. Just my clutter, instead of two guys sharing a place why to small to hold the both of them...
* * *
Watched "Lost in Translation" and "American Splendor" this week.
Both great, great movies. I was in awe. At the end of "Lost in Translation," I was pretty choked up, let me tell you.
* * *
Had a guy call into the store today. Before I tell you THIS conversation, let me tell you the background.
As merchandise gets old, prices drop. Especially when you're talking computers. There's a reason why computer manufacturers make new computer models every three months.
So, when computers become out of date, they become cheaper and cheaper. But there are usually very few of them remaining, so it becomes really hard to locate said computer.
Like, for example, this guy. The Compaq 4000 model. $200 for the tower. Granted, it was one of the worst computers we carried. (Celeron chips are, for the most part, crap. So it would always be freezing up in demo modes.)
Back in November, it was, I dunno, $400? $500? Still a pretty good deal. Such a good deal that my manager had to send one out for repair. When it came back, he bought it himself. In November.
Somehow, our computer said we had one. So we were getting calls from all around Canada. It got to the point where I would hear, "I'm Joe. From Radioshack in London, Ontario. I'm looking for -"
"251-1401. Yeah. We don't have it. Sorry."
Tom found out it was because the repair tag wasn't closed. So he closed it and put it back into inventory. For some reason, for a while it said we had two. So, double the amount of phone calls.
Hence, today's phone conversation with a customer. It's pretty much like all the rest of them, but with a twist I loved at the end.
"Hi, I'm on your website, and it says that your store has some cheap computers in stock."
"Ah, yes. The Compaq 4000," I say. "Sorry, that's an error in our inventory."
"Is it really $200?"
"If you can find one in Canada? Sure. But you won't be able to. only two stores are listing it. One is in Toronto. The other is us. But we don't have that computer in stock."
"Oh. What other computers do you have in that price range?"
"For $200? Nothing."
"So what's the best deal right now?"
"The cheapest computer we have is $650. It's a good Gateway computer for that price."
"Does that include the monitor?" he asks.
"Lord, no. That's just the tower."
"So, what, your company is false advertising?"
"No," I say. And he hangs up. And I think, false advertising? Where the hell does he get that idea? When people call me up, I don't say "Oh, yes, we've got that computer."
If they come in for it, I'm not baiting and switching them, saying, "Well, we don't have THAT computer. So pay me $600 more for a computer."
I tell them point blank that it's a stock error. We don't have that computer in stock. We haven't since November. And then I tell them point blank that they won't be able to find that computer anywhere, that it's a lost cause.
Hell, check out the link. It says in bold, MONITOR SOLD SEPARATELY.
So how is that in theleast false advertising?
I got steamed about that one, let me tell you...
* * *
That's about all I can think of. I might post from the West Coast. In any case, enough of this once every two weeks. It'll be a lot better now that my computer's all healthy again.
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