And sometimes, the legitimate blog commenters are so stupid they respond to the spammers with something like “WTF? LOL” and I’m all “OMG STFU!” But in my head, never out loud.

A short fictional story about the future and the danger of the overreaching copyright. And amazingly, written in 1997 (with additions later down the line).

I got introduced to the store sometime in 99 or 2000, I don’t quite remember.

Way back in the day when I lived in a Fry’s-less area, I used to live for trips out to CA to visit the in-laws. These usually centered around Thanksgiving or Christmas; La Angela had an uncle-geek who would take me shopping on appropriate days and I’d find awesome deals on computers, parts, software, whatever. I never came home without SOMETHING for my troubles, and could spend hours lost in one of the stores. This was my Disneyland.

When I moved to San Diego in 2004, I was stoked that we found a place to live that was just a couple of miles from Fry’s. We still live there. I’d make weekly trips, not necessarily to buy things, but just to walk around. Sometimes I’d pick up something just because it was on sale, or whatnot. I don’t even mind that one thing that drives geeks into frothing rage — that receipt check at the end. The way this store is laid out, the checkout counters are nowhere near the exit, so I rather thought that necessary, in this location.

In recent years, though, I’ve grown rather disenchanted with the place. Product knowledge levels are usually around Best-Buy levels of greatness anymore (where “greatness” is spoken sarcastically), and prices aren’t really competitive anymore. Not that it’s ever been a FOCAL point, but sometimes it’s nice to have available JUST IN CASE. Ya know?

Last night just turned them distinctly “Meh” in my head. We went there on a whim, the wife and I, after dinner. She knew I was eyeballing Blu-Ray players to replace the DVD player that just died. Now, the model I went in the store looking for (an LG BD630), was $109 here and $99 at BestBuy. So wife and I start talking, decide we have questions, and I pull a sales rep over and ask a couple of questions. Most important is “Do you price match Best Buy?”
“Yes, we do.”
“OK, cool, can you stay close in case we have questions?”
“Sure thing, but it won’t be me, I’ve got to go take care of something, here’s [insert rep here].”
“OK.”

A couple of minutes later, we continue the discussion, because I’m curious as to whether this model is wi-fi ready or not… everything says so except the box itself. We get that hammered out, and the guy shows us the wi-fi adaptor, $37 extra. “And BTW, you guys price match Best Buy, right?” I ask as I’m putting the player in the cart.
“Yes, we do.”
“OK, thanks.”

Now, to make a short story long, we found the next step up from the model I almost bought (LG BD640), which had Wi-fi built in. $149 here, $131 at Best Buy, after price matching it’ll save $5 over buying the 630 and adapter. Quick conference later, and we’re talking to a rep, asking him to retrieve one for us from the back. Thanks for your help, yada yada.

We get to checkout — after 10 minutes of waiting in line, we get to a register, where the guy says “Well, we don’t do that at the register. Since we’re kinda busy and there’s a long line behind you, would you please go back to the department and get them to give you the paperwork and then come back up here?”

[Emphasis mine] I think I saw red when he said that. I’ve worked in retail before, for 4 years. Electronics, even. On my worst day I wouldn’t have said anything like that to a customer.

The wife and I combined pretty much said “Well, after mentioning this price matching to the people in that section twice and them not saying a word about needing papers before I come to the register, and then waiting in this long line once already, no, I won’t. The length of the line behind me isn’t my problem, and Best Buy isn’t that far away.”

He did it. He was slightly put out about it, but he did it.

I walked out somewhat… less than satisfied, though. It just seems to me that they’re not what they were a decade ago, and seem to function in my head only as a second or third choice to ANYTHING — if I need a part RIGHT NOW I’d do Fry’s, but if I can wait even 2 days I’d do newegg. Software? The same, except it’s Amazon, Best Buy, or maybe even GameStop first.

…and about time.  Frankly a movie with a bunch of seals going on some rescue mission did NOT sound appealing.  And would probably make me hate Pixar, if they ended up doing it.

And I was sad.

Of course, everything I read about him talked of his wrestling career. That’s where everyone knows him, aside from some who watched him tell you to SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM, OOOH YEAHH!

Sports Illustrated has a different take on him, though. Here we learn about Randy Poffo, aspiring baseball player. And it’s a fine story. Worth a read, if you want a look into the mind of one of the most intense people on the planet.

But me? I’ll always remember him pre-WWF, working as a wrestler in Memphis. I can still hear him now. “Monday night, oooh yeah, Jerry ‘The Queen’ Lawler, I have you in a cage in the Mid-South Coliseum, yeah. In the cage. I cannot WAIT, Lawler, you’re going down, yeah!”

this blog can be reached at benyar.wordpress.com as well as yarbroughs.org. As of next month, though, benyar.wordpress.com will be the only way.

Also the ben at yarbroughs dot org email address is not monitored regularly. It’s good for another year, as I bought the domain for that long, but I check it… weekly, if that. Everyone who writes me should know the alternative address anyway.

I don’t know if this is pot calling kettle black.  It sounds more like pot trying to convince the world that the giraffe standing next to it is actually a kettle.

(May be a reprint, but today is Intergalactic Star Wars Day)

(I’ve done this before, but the image link is broken now.)