Thursday, January 04, 2007
Not Even A One-Night Stand...
So, the replacement monitor has arrived today.
That's how things are done, apparently.
You have something that's broken or dysfunctional or got dusted by the JohnnyB.
If it's under warranty, they send you a refurbished item in shipshape and working condition, and you send your broken thing back.
And everyone's happy.
(Sorry - it should actually be everyone is happy. TexieD, armed by his smartass son Nimay, reprimanded us about this misusage of the American/British grammar, so I am being very cautious now, even though I am not sure I fully agree).
That is, everyone - except for me.
Because, I truly don't get the wisdom behind it.
We have this wonderful monitor, that was perfectly fine, and only 9 months old, which we kept nice and tidy and did not mess with it, and in return it didn't mess with us. And we got attached to it, too. Like, it's ours.
It even started to learn some Hebrew.
And then, one day, it gets dusted and busted.
So, they send us a refurbished monitor, same model, same everything, expecting us to part from ours forever, as if it was just a cold piece of plastic and glass!?
I mean, we don't know how old is the one they send us, which family it comes from, what did his parents do, what childhood diseases it had - a complete stranger. And we are supposed to love it as if it was our own?
Like, what if it's a piece of crap, that will die exactly a day after the warranty is over (namely, three months from now)?
There's no way to tell, is there?
The JohnnyB does not understand his paranoiac wife.
"That's how it's done nowadays", he condescendingly reassures me, as if I was from an older generation. "It's actually faster this way, as you don't need to wait for them to repair it"
"Well", I try to explain by a witty analogy(*), "what if your car had a problem with it's left blinker (it does, by the way...), and you brought it to the garage, and they gave you another refurbished car instead?".
"This is not a car", he muttered and went out to smoke.
For those of you who follow my blog - you'll start noticing a pattern of our discussions.
I raise a perfectly good argument, The JohnnyB has no reply, so he goes out to smoke, thinking I will forget by the time he's done.
As if...
(*) Actually, I had an even better analogy, involving his wife going to the dentist, and instead of waiting for the dentist to finish the root canal, The JohnnyB is handed another wife, that kinda looks like me, with teeth already treated. but, I did not think it would be a good idea to go down this road... some things are better left untested, y'see.
Anyway - even if I wasn't against this peculiar system, there's this tiny petty technical detail.
Here's the refurbished monitor we got today, festinately shipped via UPS:
Do you notice something special about it? Unique, even?
It kinda looks at you with a slight tilt.
As if pondering who you are, inquisitively examining you with its bluish gaze, trying to figure you out, get to know your true nature.
Or - as if it's bloody crooked!
The right side is 1 inch lower than the left side. Which is significant, when the width is 17.5 inch.
You would expect the least they would do is, like, check if it's straight, no?
But, maybe it's just me.
Instead of being grateful for getting a refurbished monitor with no pedigree, I look for something to complain about.
Ah, damn women!
Anyway - believe it or not, The JohnnyB actually tried to fix it.
Oh yes, he did.
My eyebrows are still stuck to the ceiling.
I honestly try to figure out why on earth would one try to fix a defective monitor that was sent to us!?
He went through all their troubleshooting guide, while his lovely wife was increasingly steaming in rage, holding herself to not shoot him.
Luckily, he failed to fix it.
And so, after spending less than 6 hours in our humble premises, the monitor is folded and packaged back in the original box it came it, ready to be picked by UPS and sent back to wherever it come from, after The JohnnyB calls Samsung and give them a piece of his mind.
I suppose it was just not meant to be.
And so, again, I am back at the elderly monitor we got from our good old friend, carving this blog with effort on its tiny screen.
And yet again I wholeheartedly thank you, TexieD.
I think we'll keep it for a while . . .
Labels: Damn Technology, Wonders of The JohnnyB
Never. Dust. Anything.
No chance of breaking it that way.
I think your apostrophe punctuation on "and everyone's happy" is correct since "everyone's" is a contraction of the much longer "everyone is".
;-)
That's my vote.
Thanks for your comment. Where in England are you from? At least we have BBC America (if you have cable or the like) so that you won;t be totally starved of good British TV. I miss (sheepishly) East Enders.
Firstly, everyone's is certainly a proper and acceptable contraction within the rules of American English.
As one who is adept at both proper and heinously not proppa usage of said language, I certify this to be so and true.
A'ight?
Secondly, What the ??? They sent you a crooked display? {shakin'head}
In 9 years of dealing with such situations, I can recall only one occasion where a broken part was replaced with another defective product. I imagine you must be tres lucky to beat such odds.
Hope you've got the new one by now; this post being a Thursday edition.
(Nice alternate ex btw. {-;)
Per the BBC: I can't wait for the Red Dwarf movie to finally be made and released!
Blueberry and MichaelBains, Not sure it will convince TexieD, but still, your moral and grammatical support means so much to me :-)
I fully agree with you about never dusting, blueberry.
Fully and wholeheartedly.
And fully.
And no, no alternative monitor yet - still waiting, wondering whether the next monitor will be OK, or will it yield a new blogpost...
To Herself, I am not from England, but am addicted to British television. From Masterpiece Theatre to Prime Suspect to Little Britain And Catherine Tate Show.
Never saw East Enders, though.
MichaelBains - Red Dwarf is science fiction, No? so, that would be more a The JohnnyB's type of show, Eh?.
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No chance of breaking it that way.
I think your apostrophe punctuation on "and everyone's happy" is correct since "everyone's" is a contraction of the much longer "everyone is".
;-)
That's my vote.
As one who is adept at both proper and heinously not proppa usage of said language, I certify this to be so and true.
A'ight?
Secondly, What the ??? They sent you a crooked display? {shakin'head}
In 9 years of dealing with such situations, I can recall only one occasion where a broken part was replaced with another defective product. I imagine you must be tres lucky to beat such odds.
Hope you've got the new one by now; this post being a Thursday edition.
(Nice alternate ex btw. {-;)
Per the BBC: I can't wait for the Red Dwarf movie to finally be made and released!
I fully agree with you about never dusting, blueberry.
Fully and wholeheartedly.
And fully.
And no, no alternative monitor yet - still waiting, wondering whether the next monitor will be OK, or will it yield a new blogpost...
Never saw East Enders, though.
MichaelBains - Red Dwarf is science fiction, No? so, that would be more a The JohnnyB's type of show, Eh?.
