Frigging Best Buy

 Cocaine Princess here.

Earlier in the week my laptop shut down on me. I was in the middle of working when without any warning it turned off. Not this problem again! It happened to my previous laptop where I wound up buying a new one. I hit the power button and it turned back on. Less than 10 seconds later it turned off, so I turned it back on or at least I tried too. It wouldn’t. Panic started to set it.....I pleaded out loud to my lap top: “I take care of you don’t I? Aren’t I soft and tender when I touch your keys? I keep you shiny and clean all the time, don’t I? No one uses you but me so what gives? Please, please pretty please turn on!” Nothing. I even blew it a gentle kiss in hopes my kiss would have some type of magical power and my laptop would turn back on, similar to Prince Charming kissing Sleeping Beauty. It failed. My precious laptop remained in sleep mode.

I right away called up tech support. A recorded message in a robotic tone said: Due to the high volume of calls your call will be answered in sequence. Your wait time is.....twenty.....five... minutes. Please remain on the line to speak to a technical support representative.” I can tell you now it was more than a “twenty.....five minute” wait until my call was answered. I informed the tech support person my problem. Her reply: “Did you plug it in?” “Yes I plugged it in,” I said. She suggested I try several different things and they all failed miserably. Because the 1 year warranty was over her recommendation was I take my laptop back to the point of purchase, and since I had bought the protection plan any repair costs would be covered.

Where was the point of purchase? In the city at a huge electronic store called Best Buy or as I like to refer to it, Frigging Best Buy

I looked at the time, morning rush hour was over and evening rush hour was hours away so I made a trip into the city. As I approached the mall I’m thinking where do I park? Outside or inside? Since I have not yet fully mastered the art of parallel parking I parked inside the mall’s garage and entered into the mall with my laptop in hand. {It was actually in my laptop bag but you get the picture} It was a good 5 minute walk to get to the store but of course it took several minutes longer because I was slowing down whenever I would pass one of my favorite stores to take a quick browse.

Upon entering I was greeted by a very cheerful employee in a blue Polo style T-shirt with the store’s name stitched in yellow. I headed on over to the customer service desk and thankfully there were only a couple of people ahead of me.  My turn came and unless the customer service girl was under the impression I had some type of hearing problem she spoke into the microphone that was attached to the cash register and said: “Next in line please.” Good grief I was an arm's length away! I approached the counter and took out my laptop while telling her the trouble I was having. Her reply: “Did you plug it in?” For the 2nd time I replied: “Yes I plugged it in.” Speaking into her microphone she paged an associate from the computer department. I stood to one side waiting for who ever it was she paged to come by. After 15 minutes I requested to know what the hold up was. The customer service rep made another page and then another. Finally an associate wearing a Tee with the words “Tech Geek Squad” arrived and once again I explained the reason I was there. His reply: Did you plug it in?” I swear on all that is holy I began giggling because I was honestly beginning to think I was wearing a sign that read: I AM A MORON. It’s like they couldn’t understand the part where each time I would say, “It was plugged in. I was working on my laptop when it suddenly shut off and then wouldn’t turn back on.” He fiddled around with it and came to the conclusion it was a hardware problem, something malfunctioned inside. “Can you take a look at it please and fix it?” I asked. After all he was wearing a tech geek squad shirt. His reply: “We don't do any hardware repairs.” The first thing out of my mouth: I went all Bart Simpson on him and said, Aye Carumba! The 2nd thing out of my mouth: “What the hell did I pay the extra $250.00 for?” I waved the receipt in front of him showing I had purchased the protection plan. “The plan covers screen damage, battery replacement, virus removal only.”  I opened my mouth and no words came out only a depressing sigh. Trust me I was not giggling or laughing. I was in a different sort of mood. The type of mood where I wanted to hurl something through a window. “Don’t you think the sales associate should have told me that?” I asked. He didn’t respond back to my question however he did say: “You might be better off buying a new one. We have a good sale this week on HP 16.5 inch laptops. I can show you.” “No I don’t want to buy a new one,” I stated. “To have the hardware repaired will run you about the same cost as buying a new one.” “You don’t know that for sure,” I said. “Let me ask you a question: if a customer buys an expensive electronic item from your store and something happens to it that isn’t covered by the plan, is that the advice you dish out, to buy a new one? “No. They have the option of having it repaired,” he answered. “So where do you recommend I go to get my laptop repaired?” Very slowly like a sloth he went to the computer and I could detect some type of attitude coming off of him, like it was some big bother for him to check and see. I mean come on, how hard is it to do a search on the computer? He provided me with the name and address of a certified repair center. Location: China Town. I let out another depressing sigh. This wasn’t meant to be said out loud but it just came out: “Why China Town?” “It’s where most of the computer head offices choose to set and open up their repair centers,” he answered. I was ready to leave and head on over since it was less than a 5 minute drive......until he gave me the store hours: 8am - 2pm. It was 3:30. This time I didn't let out a depressing sigh......Just a low guttural groan.

The next day I made another trip into the city. I had left very early in the morning since I needed to be somewhere else at a certain time later on in the day. I was so not in the mood to drive in morning rush hour traffic. Oh I ask you, is there anything more fun than sitting in traffic and driving slower than a turtle? Sister decided to lecture me before I left and said not to be in a bad mood otherwise it would set the tone for the rest of the day. I popped in Lady Gaga’s CD at around the time I was sandwiched in between 2 big rigs. I hate when that happens because I’m always afraid I’m going to be flattened like a pancake. I couldn’t even switch lanes to get away from them because traffic was at a standstill. Remembering what “A” said about not being in a bad mood I turned up the volume and sang along out loud: Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah, Roma, Ro-ma. Singing out loud is such an awesome stress release and besides it’s not like there was anyone else in the car with me and the windows were tinted so why not? In case you’re wondering I sing off key.

I arrived in China Town close to 8:30am and my first task was to find a parking spot because unfortunately there is no valet parking available anywhere. Driving along I spotted the repair center and hoped to find parking close by and I did....well sort of. I found a self parking spot 1 block away. I exited the car and walked on over to the silver machine to receive my ticket that I am required to place face up in my dashboard. The machine had a sign: NO CASH. CREDIT CARD ONLY. I took out my card and inserted it into the slot only to have the card returned back to me. The screen read: ERROR. CANNOT READ CARD. Okay, I thought.....Let’s try this again......Nope same message.......I tried again and again and then I realized why the error message kept flashing. I pulled out my debit card by mistake. Oops. In my defense both my debit and credit card look very similar.

Finding a parking spot was one successful achievement completed. Next one: crossing the street without getting injured or killed. Remember when you were little and you were taught to look both ways before you cross the street? In China Town one needs to say a prayer as well. I kid you not!! It’s damn scary crossing the street because the cabbies, they don’t pay any attention to the traffic lights and are under the impression they own the roads and therefore the rules don’t apply to them. I approached the intersection and there were a group of people already waiting to cross. The light turned green. Now, on any normal street the cars will stop allowing you to walk smoothly across to the other side without having to fear for your life. In China Town you need to make a mad dash while saying a silent prayer. I’m happy to report I made it across both times without a single scratch! 

I make it to the repair center and there was a long line. There were 5 workers at the counter and because they were efficient the wait wasn’t too long. When my turn arrived I told the tech the problem I was having and before he had a chance to respond I said “and yes I PLUGGED it in.” After examining it he said the exact same thing as the helpful associate at frigging Best Buy did, hardware malfunction. He added that it was simple to fix and my laptop would be returned to me within a week as he handed me my little ticket receipt. Before I left I questioned him whether or not it would be better purchasing a new one than having it fixed? He shook his head no. I decided to share with him the conversation I had with the helpful associate. He told  me I had been grossly misinformed and then he advised me if ever I was to buy a laptop, to buy directly from the manufacturer and not from a big box chain. I don’t know why I keep shopping at frigging Best Buy. Each time I go in there especially on the weekends it’s like a mad house. It's packed with customers, you can never find anyone to help you and when you do the associates aren’t well, they're not very helpful. While I was there I picked up a DVD: Paranormal Activity. Considering how far behind I am in my DVDs I probably won’t get around to watching it until late summer and then I will give you my review.

For the past couple of days I’ve been using my sister’s laptop. I can’t say I’m liking it because I’m not getting that feeling that I have with mine. I just can’t get myself use to it. When I touch the keys I don’t feel the same connection as I did with mine. When I’m on my computer I’m usually sitting on the sofa so I tried getting myself comfy on the sofa but I couldn’t even get cozy there. I realized my sofa spot is only reserved for when I’m with my laptop. Instead I tried sitting in a variety of different places around the house. At one point I felt like Goldilocks when she illegally entered into the home of the 3 Bears and was testing out the beds. The last place I tried sitting, at the Winston Churchill desk and there I felt at ease. Okay allow me to explain: Awhile back I bought a desk. No I take that back. My sister was the one who wanted it. We saw a desk at a furniture store, an old English style Tudor desk and “A” thought it would go perfect with the den’s decor: Old English. “A” insisted on having at least one room in the house with an English flair but I wasn’t too keen on it. We debated it out and I couldn't believe it because I always win but.........I lost the argument. In any furniture store they always spruce up the items for customer attraction by placing pretty things around that are not for sale but for display purposes only. I’m not sure why unless Churchill had a similar desk in his office but sitting on top of the desk in the store was a black and white picture of Sir Winston Churchill, a replica model airplane flown in the war and 2 of his books: “The River War” and “Onwards to Victory” and a few other things. We bought the desk and we now refer to it as the Winston Churchill desk. Anyways, Winston is not your average size office desk. It’s so large that the only word that can best describe it is MAMMOTH. So mammoth it takes up the entire room and don't even get me started on the chair that came with it. The chair resembles a throne that is suitable for perhaps the Jolly Green Giant. I rarely ever sit in it because when I do I feel like I’m being swallowed alive by the damn thing. I was sitting at the desk yesterday evening and sister commented I looked like a Polly Pocket doll. 

This is the first time I’ve blogged my Friday entry sitting at a desk. {Unless I’m on vaycay} I always blog sitting with my feet up on the sofa, watching some late night TV followed by a bowl of cereal. Okay there was that one time I had a creme cheese bagel and there was that one other time I had a few Cheetos. Oh speaking of Cheetos, while I was paying for my DVD at Best Buy, correction frigging Best Buy, near the counter was a display stand selling “Cyber-Clean.” Have you seen the infomercial for it? Cyber-Clean is the high-tech cleaning compound. I decided to buy it. When I need to clean my keyboard I usually get out my can of Dust Destroyer and blast the dirt away. Curious to see if the infomercial was accurate, the other day I opened up a bag of Cheetos and took out a single orange stick, ate it and then purposely rubbed my fingers together to allow the orange residue to fall in between the keys. What do you know.....it worked.

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My loyal and dear readers it’s finally FRIDAY! I’m looking forward to this weekend. Why? Because I’m planning on having an “eat me, drink me” kind of weekend, oh yeah. Tim Burton’s “Alice In Wonderland” starring Johnny Depp opens today. What did you think I was talking about, hmm? Naughty, naughty if you were thinking something else.

Whatever your plans are have a magnificent weekend. -x

XOXOXOXO,
Cocaine Princess