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The Simple Pleasures
Mar. 10th, 2012 05:26 pmAs most of you have already figured out, I'm a man of simple pleasures: good friends, chocolate... come to think of it, that's really all I need for a decent life.
Every now and again, I treat myself to a special indulgence: shopping at Best Buy. Not to acquire yet more toys (although that can be fun too, albeit cheaper elsewhere) but to freak out the sales critters.
I occasionally go computer shopping with clients, advising them on what to buy by matching their requirements with off-the-shelf systems and ensuring they're not taken to the cleaners by savvy staffers. A few months ago, Tracie and I were shopping for a new laptop for her accounting practice. Settling on a suitable model & price wasn't a problem but the sales person kept trying to up-sell us on an extended warranty which we categorically rejected.
"But it would cover your computer parts & labor against practically anything which could happen to it for the next two years for only $250!" he would explain ernestly.
Tracie and I just smirked at each other. "The computer you're selling isn't worth that much," I said. Tracie added in her most polite church lady tone: "Son, I bill $300 per hour. In the time it would take me to open a claim for the warranty and ship the dead machine back to you, I'd have grossed enough income to buy two more. This computer --and every other one you've shown me today-- are disposable. If and when this computer dies, I'll pitch it like an empty candy wrapper and buy a new one."
The poor sales guy just stood there, boggling at the concept. I'm sure the cost of the computer was an entire week's salary for him, but them's the breaks. The computer is... disposable?! Yup.
Today's adventure at Best Buy was to buy something so I could throw it away.
To be more precise, I recently had two fibre cards and a disk controller card shipped to me for installation in two servers for my employer. The snag is that the mounting brackets on these cards are the full-height 4.75" versions instead of the low profile 3" brackets. In effect, the electronics fit but the card mounting bracket doesn't. I could ship them back for replacement but that incurs time on my part, delays to our deployment schedule and costs in shipping as well as possible restocking.
My cheaper solution was to simply replace the mounting brackets with low profile versions. The only snag is finding low profile brackets. I then had a clever idea...
I dutifully went to my local Best Buy because it's just 1.5 miles down the road and selected what I needed off the shelf. The sales guy came around to ensure I found everything I needed. I indicated I had exactly what I wanted, showing him the no-name 100baseT cards I pulled off the shelf. He then tried to argue for getting gigabit ethernet cards, pointing out some brand name cards nearby.
"Nope," I replied. "I have what I need."
"But these other cards will be faster if your network gets upgraded!"
"Doesn't matter. I'm not actually buying network cards."
"Huh?"
"I just want the mounting bracket of them to rescue vastly more expensive hardware I already have in hand. I'm throwing away the network cards afterwards."
"Come again?"
"I'm keeping the mounting brackets and throwing away the network cards."
"You're buying these... then throwing them away?"
"You got it."
He stared blankly for a full 15 seconds before he escorted me to the cash register and rang up the sale. I don't think he really believed me, but that's ok. I got the equipment I needed, my servers will get upgraded on schedule, I saved the firm a pile of cash and I got a cheap thrill causing yet another sales guy great confusion.
Like I said, I'm a man of simple pleasures.
Every now and again, I treat myself to a special indulgence: shopping at Best Buy. Not to acquire yet more toys (although that can be fun too, albeit cheaper elsewhere) but to freak out the sales critters.
I occasionally go computer shopping with clients, advising them on what to buy by matching their requirements with off-the-shelf systems and ensuring they're not taken to the cleaners by savvy staffers. A few months ago, Tracie and I were shopping for a new laptop for her accounting practice. Settling on a suitable model & price wasn't a problem but the sales person kept trying to up-sell us on an extended warranty which we categorically rejected.
"But it would cover your computer parts & labor against practically anything which could happen to it for the next two years for only $250!" he would explain ernestly.
Tracie and I just smirked at each other. "The computer you're selling isn't worth that much," I said. Tracie added in her most polite church lady tone: "Son, I bill $300 per hour. In the time it would take me to open a claim for the warranty and ship the dead machine back to you, I'd have grossed enough income to buy two more. This computer --and every other one you've shown me today-- are disposable. If and when this computer dies, I'll pitch it like an empty candy wrapper and buy a new one."
The poor sales guy just stood there, boggling at the concept. I'm sure the cost of the computer was an entire week's salary for him, but them's the breaks. The computer is... disposable?! Yup.
Today's adventure at Best Buy was to buy something so I could throw it away.
To be more precise, I recently had two fibre cards and a disk controller card shipped to me for installation in two servers for my employer. The snag is that the mounting brackets on these cards are the full-height 4.75" versions instead of the low profile 3" brackets. In effect, the electronics fit but the card mounting bracket doesn't. I could ship them back for replacement but that incurs time on my part, delays to our deployment schedule and costs in shipping as well as possible restocking.
My cheaper solution was to simply replace the mounting brackets with low profile versions. The only snag is finding low profile brackets. I then had a clever idea...
I dutifully went to my local Best Buy because it's just 1.5 miles down the road and selected what I needed off the shelf. The sales guy came around to ensure I found everything I needed. I indicated I had exactly what I wanted, showing him the no-name 100baseT cards I pulled off the shelf. He then tried to argue for getting gigabit ethernet cards, pointing out some brand name cards nearby.
"Nope," I replied. "I have what I need."
"But these other cards will be faster if your network gets upgraded!"
"Doesn't matter. I'm not actually buying network cards."
"Huh?"
"I just want the mounting bracket of them to rescue vastly more expensive hardware I already have in hand. I'm throwing away the network cards afterwards."
"Come again?"
"I'm keeping the mounting brackets and throwing away the network cards."
"You're buying these... then throwing them away?"
"You got it."
He stared blankly for a full 15 seconds before he escorted me to the cash register and rang up the sale. I don't think he really believed me, but that's ok. I got the equipment I needed, my servers will get upgraded on schedule, I saved the firm a pile of cash and I got a cheap thrill causing yet another sales guy great confusion.
Like I said, I'm a man of simple pleasures.
