Computer Says No at Curries Digital, Oxford St

Scene: Oxford St, Curries Digital. Enters Closetblonde who approaches a salesman.

Closetblonde: Hi, I'm looking for a GPS. I'm tossing up between the TomTom and the Garmin. I want to have a bit of a play around so can you show me a few?

Salesman: Sure. These are the latest TomTom and Garmin models.

Closetblonde: Which one is the more popular out of the two?

Salesman: The TomTom. It's much better.

Closeblonde: Why is it better?

Salesman: Because it's better.

(Slight pause.)

Closetblonde: But why is it better? There must be a specific reason why it's more popular. Is it how it's made, is it the maps or is it any other specific feature.........

Salesman (hurridly): The customer service is better for TomTom.

(Pause.)

Closetblonde: So.... Customer service, and nothing else.

Salesman: Yes.

(Pause.)

Closetblonde: Can I have a play around with the Garmin then?

Salesman: You can't turn it on because it's out of battery. And to charge it, that will mean I will have to get the charger out of the box to charge it......

(Pause. I mean, who is he kidding? Does he even want to sell this thing?)

Closetblonde (slightly incredulously): Can you maybe charge it so that I can have a look at it....? I mean, otherwise it's like going into a car dealership and looking at a car and not test driving it.

Salesman: Yeah, okay..... But it'll take some time.....

Closetblonde (impatiently): I can wait. I can come back.

Salesman: Okay, come back in ten minutes?

(Ten minutes later)

Salesman: I couldn't charge it because it only comes with a car charger.

Closetblonde: So how come you said you could charge it in the first place.....?

Salesman (ignoring closetblonde's last comment): I have a colleague who has a lot of experience with GPS's. Maybe he can help answer your questions.

(Salesman flags down another salesman with a tag that reads "manager".)

Salesman (to manager): This lady had some questions about GPS's.

Closetblonde: What I wanted to do was to have a play around with the Garmin to help me decide whether to get another TomTom or to change to a Garmin. Does the Garmin tell you which street to turn into instead of the usual "turn left in five hundred metres"?

"Manager" shrugs: Sorry, I don't know.

Closetblonde: Erm okay..... Does the Garmin also come with any other accessories such as an A/C wall charger?

"Manager": Er...No.
(By the way, this turns out to be an outright lie. They do come with A/C wall chargers.)

(Pause.)

"Manager": Any more questions?

Closetblonde: No.
(The manager hurries off looking busy and not being particularly helpful......)

Closetblonde (getting really frustrated): You know, you should really work out a way to charge the Garmins. Otherwise how are people going to really know what to buy if they can't have a play around with it? It's like trying to buy a car without being able to test drive.

Salesman (in tone that says, I'm just going to say yes so that you will go away and I'm really not listening): Yes, yes, we know.

Clostblonde (Fed. Up.): You know what? Just forget it.......


Postscript: I considered sending this blog entry to Currys as a form of feedback but guess what.....? You can only write to then by regular snail mail. Another way to make it more difficult to feedback (because feedback's likely to be bad), another way for the computer to say no!