ARRRGHHH!! Minor Irritances!!

I went to the Apple Store to get my computer fixed on Sunday. I was pretty sure what the problem was since my battery, previously a nice rectangular monolith shape, had distended like the swollen belly of a child in a Sally Struthers plea-for-help infomercial. Lo and behold, the very pleasant Apple "Genius" diagnosed the problem as such, removed the battery, told me the casing would have to be repaired (for free!) and sent me home to back up all my files. This involved purchasing a not-inexpensive external hard drive and ultimately will require the purchase of a new battery. Still, cheaper than buying a new computer. I left the store satisfied, walked out into the beautiful sunny weather and was content. He had told me that the Apple Store would call me to set up an appointment to actually have my computer fixed sometime in the next day or so. Wonderful.

They called and I set up the appointment for today at 1:30. This should have been a simple thing: I go in, I give you my computer, I come back after work and pick it up after it's been fully repaired. Oh my no. I knew something was amiss immediately when I got there. There was a troll-like Apple employee performing computer-repair triage.

Me: Hi, I have an appointment to drop off my computer for repair.

Her: What time?

Me: 1:30.

/This is all occurring at 1:23.

Her: I don't see you on the list.

Me: Excuse me?

Her: You must have missed your appointment.

Me: What? How?

Her: Well, if you don't show up on time, we skip to the next person.

Me:... But I'm EARLY for my appointment.

Her: Huh.

She was able to "sneak" me in anyway. I was so grateful... Except not at all because I'd already had an appointment that they called to confirm with me. So, I finally get up to the repair guy at 1:50, 20 minutes after my appointed time, and he proceeds to redo all the diagnostics that the first guy had done 3 days prior. I showed him my previous repair ticket receipt thing. He still insisted on reprinting one. I was late getting back to work from lunch break because of all of this.

And then, on the way out of the store, I set a small (large) fire consuming the entire store and killing the 150-odd people inside in a horribly grizzly and painful fashion.

I'll be back to pick up the machine at 7.