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Li'l background. Once upon a time, I used to be a helluva computer technician. The days of doing it for a living are over, but I still dabble here and there. And today I had need of some old-school hardware, known generically as a Laplink cable.
For those who know what that is, skip this paragraph. For those who don't, it's a data transfer cable specifically for connecting the parallel (printer) or serial ports of two computers together for the purpose of transferring data from one to the other - assuming, of course, you have the proper software. In the old DOS days, it was Interlink and Interserver, in Windows-95 and newer it's called Direct Cable Connection, and there are even third-party utilities that work with this (the most commonly known of which is Laplink, hence the name of the cable). Bottom line: I've used it a LOT of times. It works - a little slow, but it beats the old floppy shuffle.
Well, it turns out mine is missing in action, and I had to go out anyway, so I went into the big computer superstore we have here in SE Ohio, spent about a half-hour looking for what I wanted. I generally don't like to ask the sale staff for help, because often 'help' results in more headaches - as was the case today.
But, not finding the cable I wanted on their pegboard, I decided to abandon all hope and ask - perhaps they had one in the mythical land of Stock Room, or perhaps they could order one. So I flagged down one of the roving sales clerks, a young fellow about 20, by the looks of him.
And spent the next twenty minutes trying to explain to him what I was looking for. Repeatedly. And on at least two occasions he flat declared that there WAS no such thing, and upon my insistence that these items DO exist (or at least, they DID, and I'm certain someone, somewhere still makes them), he made a remark that made me absolutely see red. The comment? "Dude, crack kills."
I asked for his manager. I mean, okay, I get that maybe these youngsters might not know what that is; it is, after all, something that isn't used much anymore. Today USB flash drives, easy access to CD- and DVD-burners, and plug-and-play networking have made such gadgets obsolete. Hence, in his 'long' career as a salesperson for a computer store (what, four years possibly?) it's conceivable that nobody's ever asked for such a thing. Hell, I can't remember the last time I used MINE. It's an outdated item that's outside his experience. I get that.
But to flat tell me 'there is no such thing' when I know better, and to insinuate that I'm using crack just because he's never heard of the item I'm asking for? Not even REMOTELY acceptable. His manager felt so, too. Fortunately manager-man was somewhat less retarded and helped me find the exact item - on the display hooks, no less (I'd missed it somehow, so perhaps I'm retarded, too) and made a point of showing it to his wayward clerk, who shrugged it off with a 'whatever'. It seems his manager hated 'whatever' almost as much as *I* do, because that word got the kid fired.
Now, seriously, should I feel bad about this? On one hand, I sorta do. I never wanted him to be fired, after all, it IS a pretty obscure item. But on the other hand, his comment went over a line, and his attitude was abyssmal.
So, what do you think? Was I an asshole?
For those who know what that is, skip this paragraph. For those who don't, it's a data transfer cable specifically for connecting the parallel (printer) or serial ports of two computers together for the purpose of transferring data from one to the other - assuming, of course, you have the proper software. In the old DOS days, it was Interlink and Interserver, in Windows-95 and newer it's called Direct Cable Connection, and there are even third-party utilities that work with this (the most commonly known of which is Laplink, hence the name of the cable). Bottom line: I've used it a LOT of times. It works - a little slow, but it beats the old floppy shuffle.
Well, it turns out mine is missing in action, and I had to go out anyway, so I went into the big computer superstore we have here in SE Ohio, spent about a half-hour looking for what I wanted. I generally don't like to ask the sale staff for help, because often 'help' results in more headaches - as was the case today.
But, not finding the cable I wanted on their pegboard, I decided to abandon all hope and ask - perhaps they had one in the mythical land of Stock Room, or perhaps they could order one. So I flagged down one of the roving sales clerks, a young fellow about 20, by the looks of him.
And spent the next twenty minutes trying to explain to him what I was looking for. Repeatedly. And on at least two occasions he flat declared that there WAS no such thing, and upon my insistence that these items DO exist (or at least, they DID, and I'm certain someone, somewhere still makes them), he made a remark that made me absolutely see red. The comment? "Dude, crack kills."
I asked for his manager. I mean, okay, I get that maybe these youngsters might not know what that is; it is, after all, something that isn't used much anymore. Today USB flash drives, easy access to CD- and DVD-burners, and plug-and-play networking have made such gadgets obsolete. Hence, in his 'long' career as a salesperson for a computer store (what, four years possibly?) it's conceivable that nobody's ever asked for such a thing. Hell, I can't remember the last time I used MINE. It's an outdated item that's outside his experience. I get that.
But to flat tell me 'there is no such thing' when I know better, and to insinuate that I'm using crack just because he's never heard of the item I'm asking for? Not even REMOTELY acceptable. His manager felt so, too. Fortunately manager-man was somewhat less retarded and helped me find the exact item - on the display hooks, no less (I'd missed it somehow, so perhaps I'm retarded, too) and made a point of showing it to his wayward clerk, who shrugged it off with a 'whatever'. It seems his manager hated 'whatever' almost as much as *I* do, because that word got the kid fired.
Now, seriously, should I feel bad about this? On one hand, I sorta do. I never wanted him to be fired, after all, it IS a pretty obscure item. But on the other hand, his comment went over a line, and his attitude was abyssmal.
So, what do you think? Was I an asshole?
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