Michael and the New Computer

Michael and the new computer
Originally uploaded by Prairie Brown

Welcome to my newest attempt at keeping a blog. Actually, since I've never really tried this before, it would be my only attempt this far at keeping a blog. I've always been a big fan of old fashioned paper journals, and I have a stack of those sitting in a closet. Since grad school though, I've found my motivation to write has been sort of lost (maybe due to the hundred page thesis iI had to write before they'd give me a degree). I've decided that my goal for the summer is going to be to see if I can start writing again, and just for fun, I'm going to make it public.

This afternoon, Michael and I, after debating it for a few weeks, set out on a mission to find a laptop computer. In the past, we've not really had a need for one, but with Michael's continuing school work and the upcoming travel events of the summer, we decided that it would finally be practical to have a portable computer.

I have to say, buying a laptop turned out to be a little bit more complicated than I'd anticipated. Both Michael and I have been Mac snobs for a while now, but a Mac laptop was simply out of our budget at the moment. We (with a few winces) decided we were going to go with a PC. We set out to our local Best Buy, convinced that as their name implies, they would likely have the best buy on what we were looking for--a cheap laptop computer.

I really don't recommend the Best Buy experience. We browsed by ourselves for a few minutes, located a computer we liked, then stood there waiting for a salesperson to come and unlock it from its cage so we could buy it. And we waited. And we waited. And we went looking for someone. We located a salesclerk behind a help desk (seems a likely place for such a person to be), but he was already helping another customer. So we got in line to wait. After a few minutes, the clerk acknowledged our presence and said he'd be with us shortly. Then another couple, apparently of the opinion that since they were old and one of them was in a wheelchair, they didn't have to wait, cut in line in front of us.

After the couple pushed in front of us, another clerk came up to the desk and helped them! We were standing there, open jawed and starting to get annoyed. The guy behind the desk was still with another customer. The salesgirl finished with the elderly couple, and without giving us a glance, walked behind the desk and started to play with a computer, with her back toward us. Our jaws fell a bit more. After a minute or two, she turned around and asked, "Did you have a question about something?"

To which, we responded, "No thank you," and walked out of the store. I'm very unlikely to shop at Best Buy every again. The customer service there (at least at our local branch) is terrible, and if I'm going to spend $1000 (a lot of money in my world), I want someone to at least fawn over me a little bit. Acknowledging my presence would also be a plus.

From there, we went to Staples, and again found a computer we liked. Once again, however, we were deterred from our quest by bad customer service. Two employees watched us walk in and find the computer section by ourselves, too wrapped up in their conversation to even greet us. Then, after we'd found a computer we liked, we had to go looking for a salesperson. We hovered in the general vicinity of a man putting new CD cases on shelves. I assume, since he was wearing a uniform, he worked there. He ignored us. We hovered closer. He ignored us. We paced between him and the computer section. He ignored us. Finally, as we were about to give up, he asked if he could help us. We said no, and left the store.

Beginning to wonder if we'd ever end up getting decent customer service anywhere, we headed across the street to Office Depot, our last chance, since we couldn't think of any more stores that might sell computers in our area.

Once at Office Depot, we quickly noticed that in front of each computer was a tag that we could take up to the cash register at the front and use to get the product we wanted to purchase. They all but advertised not to expect customer service, and we respected that--at least the computers weren't locked in a cage that would require assistance to open. However, just as we were making our decision, a store employee (I might add, pushing a large cart and obviously on his way to do some other duty) stopped, smiled, and asked if he could help us. He stayed and chatted for ten minutes and was genuinely helpful. Under his guidance, we selected the new Gateway laptop computer pictured above. If you're in the market for a new computer, I highly recommend shopping at Office Depot. Their employees are friendly and knowledgeable and their prices are competitive. Quite frankly, we ended up spending a little more than we'd intended because we were so happy to finally find someone who was willing to talk to us, and we went with a more expensive computer than we were looking at in either of the other two stores.

We have it all set up now, and Michael is sitting behind me as I sit here at my cute little iMac, typing away on a post of his own about the new toy. It's fun for both of us to be in the same room playing on computers, something we haven't ever been able to do in this apartment, since we both have desktop models, and our desks are in different rooms. Maybe the key to maintaining a healthy relationship is being able to blog in the same room... We'll see!