Adventures At Costco

So Mr. and I headed out to Costco yesterday afternoon. I have calculated that buying certain items are saving us a few dollars, so at this point, making the trip out every couple of months is worth it. However, if/when gas goes up over the $4 point, that savings will disappear and as such, so will our membership.

We were also in search of a new television. The picture is slowly fading in our old one, so we've been looking around for a bargain. We found one yesterday. It has all sorts of abilities that I can't even begin to understand. I just want to point the remote, turn it on, watch a movie or two then turn it off. I don't need any of the other cool technical extras. As such, this whole experience left me anything but impressed, until I saw the picture quality. Wow. Crisp. Clear.

Too bad the young sales clerk didn't have the same qualities. At least his eyes and brain. The kid was as high as a kite. Eyes all bloodshot. That goofy smile on his face. Plus the fact that he kept looking at my boobs with that smile and eyeing me like a piece of chocolate cake he wanted to devour. All in front of Mr. N, who moved in close to me and put out the "she is MINE" energy. 20 years ago I would've slapped him. Today, I smile and think "yeah, I'm old enough to be your mama. I could hurt you, boy."

So we load up the tv and our million roles of toilet paper and tissue boxes and head on home. I go to work on trying to find room for this mass of paper products while Mr. N gets to work on setting up the new tv. It's amazingly light. Scary as well. All that plastic. As I told Mr. N "this thing better last at least 10 years!"

So we set up the tv, program it, then hook up our DVD player. Or try to. Upon turning it on, we kept getting a split screen on the tv. After trying to figure it out ourselves, we decided to call Costco Tech Support.

Oh god, what an experience. As with so many times with these "free" tech support lines, their training came out of a cracker jack box. The young girl told us to do all sorts of things, short of standing on our heads and scratching our bellies. Which actually would have been just as effective.

After 15 minutes, she called the tech support line of the manufacturing company who made the tv. A young man with a baby crying in the background spoke to us. Tried to help us.

He had us do the same things the young girl had us try.

After another 15 minutes, after Mr. N asked just what this young man was actually trained in and was there anyone else with more technical expertise available, to which we were told "not at this hour", and after being told "It must be the tv. Take it back," we hung up.

Mr. N had a bit of a fit before heading off to take a shower and deal with it "later". Take back the tv? Are they gonna pay for my gas? Where's that technical support when you really need it? he kept asking outloud.

Turns out it was right here, with yours truly. I figured it out.

On a hunch, I looked at the DVD player. I had dusted it off with an electro-static rag. Something told me I may have moved a switch and that was what had caused the problem. Looking on the back panel, I noticed a switch that could be placed on 3 different settings. So I moved it, turned on the tv and wala, we had a working system. And I had a very happy spouse.

After all of that, Mr. N is the only one who is still feeling any real excitement over this new purchase. I feel gluttonous. I think I've fed into the system in a way I would rather not. I'm the type to keep something until it expires. At least that's the person I'm becoming. We're still keeping the old tv, but I still can't help but think we've been manipulated and had by some big corporation. But I guess we all feed into that corporate system. Anyway, it's making me think more about making "buying local" doable, sustainable and affordable for all.

Who knew a tv could make one think in such a way?