not much

Not much done today. A.M. mass. Lunch with friends. Cingular stop. Movie "Rent."

Cingular was interesting. My phone was old--pre GSM/GPRS technology. I'd long been out of the 2yr contract. Unfortunately the old tech is starting to get spotty; connections were unreliable. So we decided to upgrade. My sidekick had the more modern phone; we were going to upgrade that and I inherit my sidekick's phone.

First the salesguy said they didn't offer the family plan we were looking for. Fine we'll deal with that in a moment. While he goes to gather some upgrade phone options, I spotted a display on the counter that advertises the plan we were looking for. Dude, it's right here, this plan.

Then he brings two phones. Either runs about $200 with 2yr contract. How's it better than my sidekick's current phone? They're not. One of the choices was the Razr. For $200 and a 2yr contract, we get a slimmer phone. No way, dude. We'll just upgrade my phone. Give me that cheapest one you got.

He goes and gets the phone. Fuddles with the computer, asks an associate if the phone is in the inventory. This serial number is not in there. He goes and gets another one. Not there either. We point out to him, "You guys sold that same model to the lady that just left here." He comes back with a stack of the same model, and the very top one is in the system.

He fuddles with the computer then, "I have to tell you guys, on your next bill, you'll be charged a month in advance." He forewarned us so that we'd take our heart medicine before opening the next bill. He invited us to come back and hash it out if need be. He proceeds to quote the cost of the plan plus $9.99. "Why $9.99? The base price includes two phones and that's all we have. The $9.99 is for each additional phone." "Oh." After a few more minutes on the computer, "I have to tell you that your 2,000 rollover minutes that you've collected will be reduced to 250." My sidekick haggled over it for a while but we went with it.

He puts our stuff in a plastic bag for us. "See, you get a cute bag," he jokes. My sidekick said, "Not as cute as those." pointing to the little silver paper bags with handles and orange tissue poking out of them, scattered about the store. "Sorry, those are just for decoration." His associate informed him that they have some in the back. "I'll hook you up," he said. So my sidekick gets the "cute bag."

Yeah it took alot longer than we expected, but it was comical how many times this guy struck out.

Quite a bit of reading for "not much" eh?