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So today is the day I decide to finally get over my reservations and buy an iPod.
Never really wanted one as I'm tied to using iTunes (which is twitchy under Windows 7) if I want to use all the features of the iPod, and I can't replace the battery when it starts to no longer hold a charge.
But! As almost everything these days comes with an iPod hook-up, it was time to swallow my pride and get one.
I must say that the 5th generation Nano is a sweet MP3 player however and it is kinda nifty.
So off to Walmart I go. First off I go to the camera department and purchase a new digital camera (old one is only 4mp and has seen better days). Get a nice one and after playing with it, I am really happy with it.
Since you have to pay for those in the photo department, I paid and walked over to the electronics section to buy an iPod.
Well no one was there. After standing there from the time Lightning McQueen got his new tires at Luigi's till Mack was complaining that they just keep using the same actor over and over and wondering what kind of cut-rate production Pixar is (Cars was playing on the LCD Display), Finally someone noticed me. It was someone from another department, but she had heard that all electronics personnel was to report for a meeting. She offered to see if someone could come out and help me.
No one did, but that's neither here nor there for this story.
So I'm waiting for a while and someone comes up to me and starts complaining that I've been standing in front of the iPod case for the entire time he's been waiting for someone to help him.
I inform him that I didn't work there and was waiting to be helped myself. He would hear none of that. He kept ranting and raving to me how I should "Get off of my [fornicating] [tuchas] and help him right now.
Well at this point I still hadn't seen anyone with a Walmart badge in the area and since it didn't look like they had my iPod in stock (I was hoping to see if any more had come in, or when they were expecting any more to come in) coupled with the fact that I was not inclined to listen to any more of this person's verbal abuse...I decided to leave and try Target.
"Don't you turn your mother [fornicate]ing back on me! I'll get your boss on you."
<sigh> It's one of those days isn't it?
Not feeling very polite but at the same time not feeling like dealing with him and the fact that this person was unwilling to read my name badge that proclaimed that I worked not at Walmart, but at the local county hospital...I did the only thing I could think of. I flipped him the bird as I was walking out.
Luckily for me, he was too apoplectic to come after me or to chase me with anything stronger than the "more colorful metaphors" that our modern American English is often peppered with.
So by now you might be thinking, "Gee! Isn't this more of a sighting?" Well it would be if the story ends there. Sadly it doesn't.
Fast forward 16 hours and I've purchased my iPod and a couple of Wii games I've had my eye on, had a lovely sleep (the hazards of working nights), had dinner, played with the camera, the iPod, and the two games (in that order) and went to work.
It was at work here at the hospital that round two came about.
It would seem that this person was in Walmart looking for a PSP for his daughter who was a patient here and would be here for a while. Beyond that I am unable to elaborate due to HIPAA regulations.
But I am spotted and recognized and the berating continues. I'm even given threats that the person I'm here to see will hear of my refusal to help him buy something for this daughter.
At this point I'm so mad that were I not on my job and in a place where I could speak my mind and give him both barrels of my frustration and loathing for this person. Sadly being on my employment turf, I have to be more 'careful' about what I say.
"Sir, I didn't help you at Walmart because I do not work there, I work *here*. See this name badge? It says the name of this very hospital where we both stand. See this? This states my job as the IT Technician. I work nights and go home in the morning. Which is why you saw me trying to buy an iPod from the same Walmart you were. I was just as frustrated as you and had been standing there for just as long. If you really want to, please feel free to contact my boss, John Doe (obviously not his real name) - Director of Information Systems and complain about the fact that I refused to assist you at the Walmart."
Sputtering impotently at me, I left him and went to the Charge Nurse and asked her if she had heard the exchange. She assured me that if it came to it, she had my back and would attest to the fact that I was polite (if rather curt) and did not raise my voice or swear at him.
I know my boss however. It's not going to be a problem.
The sad thing about it all? I was up on that floor because someone had complained to the charge nurse that their daughter couldn't see the free and open wireless access point with their PSP. When I got the access point back up, there was only one PSP on the entire network. Guess I can figure out which daughter it was and who her father was.
Never really wanted one as I'm tied to using iTunes (which is twitchy under Windows 7) if I want to use all the features of the iPod, and I can't replace the battery when it starts to no longer hold a charge.
But! As almost everything these days comes with an iPod hook-up, it was time to swallow my pride and get one.
I must say that the 5th generation Nano is a sweet MP3 player however and it is kinda nifty.
So off to Walmart I go. First off I go to the camera department and purchase a new digital camera (old one is only 4mp and has seen better days). Get a nice one and after playing with it, I am really happy with it.
Since you have to pay for those in the photo department, I paid and walked over to the electronics section to buy an iPod.
Well no one was there. After standing there from the time Lightning McQueen got his new tires at Luigi's till Mack was complaining that they just keep using the same actor over and over and wondering what kind of cut-rate production Pixar is (Cars was playing on the LCD Display), Finally someone noticed me. It was someone from another department, but she had heard that all electronics personnel was to report for a meeting. She offered to see if someone could come out and help me.
No one did, but that's neither here nor there for this story.
So I'm waiting for a while and someone comes up to me and starts complaining that I've been standing in front of the iPod case for the entire time he's been waiting for someone to help him.
I inform him that I didn't work there and was waiting to be helped myself. He would hear none of that. He kept ranting and raving to me how I should "Get off of my [fornicating] [tuchas] and help him right now.
Well at this point I still hadn't seen anyone with a Walmart badge in the area and since it didn't look like they had my iPod in stock (I was hoping to see if any more had come in, or when they were expecting any more to come in) coupled with the fact that I was not inclined to listen to any more of this person's verbal abuse...I decided to leave and try Target.
"Don't you turn your mother [fornicate]ing back on me! I'll get your boss on you."
<sigh> It's one of those days isn't it?
Not feeling very polite but at the same time not feeling like dealing with him and the fact that this person was unwilling to read my name badge that proclaimed that I worked not at Walmart, but at the local county hospital...I did the only thing I could think of. I flipped him the bird as I was walking out.
Luckily for me, he was too apoplectic to come after me or to chase me with anything stronger than the "more colorful metaphors" that our modern American English is often peppered with.
So by now you might be thinking, "Gee! Isn't this more of a sighting?" Well it would be if the story ends there. Sadly it doesn't.
Fast forward 16 hours and I've purchased my iPod and a couple of Wii games I've had my eye on, had a lovely sleep (the hazards of working nights), had dinner, played with the camera, the iPod, and the two games (in that order) and went to work.
It was at work here at the hospital that round two came about.
It would seem that this person was in Walmart looking for a PSP for his daughter who was a patient here and would be here for a while. Beyond that I am unable to elaborate due to HIPAA regulations.
But I am spotted and recognized and the berating continues. I'm even given threats that the person I'm here to see will hear of my refusal to help him buy something for this daughter.
At this point I'm so mad that were I not on my job and in a place where I could speak my mind and give him both barrels of my frustration and loathing for this person. Sadly being on my employment turf, I have to be more 'careful' about what I say.
"Sir, I didn't help you at Walmart because I do not work there, I work *here*. See this name badge? It says the name of this very hospital where we both stand. See this? This states my job as the IT Technician. I work nights and go home in the morning. Which is why you saw me trying to buy an iPod from the same Walmart you were. I was just as frustrated as you and had been standing there for just as long. If you really want to, please feel free to contact my boss, John Doe (obviously not his real name) - Director of Information Systems and complain about the fact that I refused to assist you at the Walmart."
Sputtering impotently at me, I left him and went to the Charge Nurse and asked her if she had heard the exchange. She assured me that if it came to it, she had my back and would attest to the fact that I was polite (if rather curt) and did not raise my voice or swear at him.
I know my boss however. It's not going to be a problem.
The sad thing about it all? I was up on that floor because someone had complained to the charge nurse that their daughter couldn't see the free and open wireless access point with their PSP. When I got the access point back up, there was only one PSP on the entire network. Guess I can figure out which daughter it was and who her father was.
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