Tucson

Yesterday was a frustrating day. Started off O.K., rented a car for a few days until the Echo arrives. The pick-up driver was only 1/2 an hour late to pick us up. Got a free upgrade from an economy car to a Hyundai Elantra with XM sattelite radio. Quite a nice car, actually, but it seems to use a lot of gas. Then we went to get a US cell phone. Since our broadband card is with Verizon, and we've been pleased with the service, we decided to stick with Verizon. We went to Best Buy, and the trouble began. First, there were only two sales people working in cell phones, and they were busy with customers who couldn't make up their minds. The staff kept taking personal calls, and the customers kept wandering off to other departments, only to be hunted down by the staff who needed more info from them.

After half an hour of waiting, we interupted the sales manager and asked if he couldn't get someone else to help. He seemed surprised at the idea, but got another associate. She couldn't figure out how to activate the phone we wanted. After 6 tries on the computer, she finally followed our advice and decided to actually phone Verizon. Just one problem, all the phones she tried calling on were dead! The idea of going to use a landline was obviously too much for her, so after another 20 minutes of this nonsense we decided to leave. Asked to speak to the store manager on the way out, and told him what had transpired. His answer: These things sometimes happen. Verizon is the problem! We left in a rage.

Next, we decided to go back to Georgie Boy and find a Verizon corporate store online. Just one problem, the computer died on boot-up and displayed the "blue screen of death". An hour of heavy duty restoration got the computer working again, we looked up the local stores, and headed out. The first store on the list: Gone. The next store: lined up with us #9 on the list to be served. After finally speaking with a sales rep (1/2 an hour later) he comes out with two phones, neither of which is the one we had chosen. Apparently the phone we wanted was out of stock. He told us that "no one wants that phone, it's too simple". He kept trying to sell us different phones, each of which cost more of course. Asked him to check if any other stores have the phone we want. YES, across the street in the mall they have one! Asked him to get it, he refused, so we went across the street to a tiny store. Another line-up. We told the greeter we would not wait more than 5 minutes for service. She balked, so we LOUDLY suggested we'd go across the mall to the T-Mobile store. NOW we got service. This sales rep was professional, personable, and efficient. Not only did they have the phone we wanted, they had 83 of them. Their second most popular seller he says!

We go through the paperwork, as quickly as possible, then get hit with another surprise. The price quoted was actually after a mail-in rebate. Told him we're not interested in mail-ins, just give us the price on the price card, and sort out the rebate internally. He didn't argue, just got his manager who agreed and the deal was finally done. If your'e keeping track, the whole episode took 3 hours, and brought our blood pressure to the danger point. Take our advice, NEVER SHOP AT BEST BUY!

Next, it was time to go and arrange a local mailbox. Found the place, and luckily it was next door to our favourite 99 cent store, so Marlene went shopping while I went through the 9 pages of forms to open a mailbox! Never seen so much useless information collected. The poor clerk was new, and had to keep phoning her boss to find out how to fill all the forms out. Finally got done with that after 35 minutes. Marlene was still shopping, so I joined her and we bought a pile of fresh veggies, water, cleaning supplies, etc. for the grand sum of $24. Love that 99 cent store!

Finally, we returned home, to find Ben a bit scared after being left so long and the sun had already set. Marlene whipped up a nice dinner of fish and veggies, we had a few drinks, and relaxed to watch TV. What a day!

This morning we decided some R & R was called for, so we went to see the old Presidio district. It was very nice, with many old Spanish buildings. We wanted to see the cathedral, but it was closed. We did, however, see the Freemasons Cathedral. Very cool, but we don't really get Freemasonry. Have to learn more about it. We picked up some literature at the downtown Visitor's Center, and now have some other things we want to see. We stopped at Walmart to buy a water filter for Georgie Boy (the water here tastes and smells awful), and went home for lunch and a nap. Tonight it will be time to start working on the new website for Armageddon (the jet car). Stay tuned...