Run in with the squad...
So my vaio has been acting up lately...from what I can tell the graphics card is shot. I'm not worried about it though, as all my computers are covered under my homeowners insurance...so long as the damage is not caused by war, nuclear fallout or "wear and tear". Well , I figured something bad must have happened for the graphics card to go but nothing else. They instruct me to get a diagnostic work up and fax it to them. I figure, the diagnostic will say, graphics card lousy, give us $200. I figured, I'll get a check, drop another few clams, and get a new laptop that is twice as powerful. So I take it to the squad... you know the one. They could not find a problem...nor could they reproduce the problem that has been haunting me for over a month. So, no check for me...but that's not why I am pissed. I waited in line for 15 minutes picking it up...although it wasn't really a line, as there was the person in front of me wo was being helped. There were no less than 3 members of the squad milling about doing nothing... Now, I pride myself on my patience...but I found myself in a position usually reserved for fast food employees. I considered many options that would all likely get me arrested...knocking over displays came to mind...also screaming across he returns section "GEEEEEEK!!!". But I held out...and eventually one made their way over to me. He was trying to make small talk, and then mentioned how he was half an hour late for work... Then it hit me... I wanted to scream at him "GEEKS AREN'T LATE FOR WORK!!! YOU ARE NOT A GEEK!!!". Now, I realize geeks can be and often are late (although they would argue wizards are never late) but they sure as hell do not hang around and flirt with the hot chick with the pierced lip and have perfectly cropped hair. I realized that I likely know more than the grand majority of these posers in the geek arts, and anyone who could actually help me wouldn't have ended up where they are. In my ranting session to my loyal rant reciever I realized that refering to this squad by their proper name is an insult to geeks everywhere.
Sorry for all that... I'll try to stick to the former format of this blog, as I'm sure that listening to me discuss groups and people that piss me off would be...exhaustive...yeah...obama collector coins...9.95 plus s&h...
Sorry for all that... I'll try to stick to the former format of this blog, as I'm sure that listening to me discuss groups and people that piss me off would be...exhaustive...yeah...obama collector coins...9.95 plus s&h...
posted by BigX at 12:02 AM
2 Comments:
We used to have a guy who worked in our computer lab who, for some reason, had it in his head that the Geek Squad were the pinnacle of geek knowledge. Whenever I did something particularly clever or taught him something new, he would say that I should go work for the Geek Squad. I finally had to sit him down and explain that the guys who worked for the squad were mostly high school and college kids who had, at best, an associate degree in some computer related field and were making little more than minimum wage. That they were at the very bottom of the IT totem pole and that I was way over-qualified to work there.
Not that they don't serve a purpose, mind you. I always suggest that people take their personal computers there when they ask if I do house calls.
Indeed now that I've had time to calm down I could see myself using them if I was ever too lazy to set up a wireless network or install extra memory or something...but their use of the word geek is far too liberal. Before you call yourself a geek you must ask yourself if you have ever
1) Gone three or more days without bathing, despite having easy access
2) Spent more than 100 hours on a single player game
3) Said outloud, in public "lulz", "roffle" or anything of that ilk
4) Owns more than 1 d20
5) Has attended more than one "popular culture" convention inside of a year
6) Has watched more than 8 consecutive hours of the same television program
7) Owns more than one wildly outdated weapon
Of course there are others...but my point is that a lot of us have been fighting for years to empower the word geek, and differenciate it from other similar derogatory terms.
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