Remember the Tom and Jerry cartoons where Tom and Jerry and a little mouse I always assumed to be Jerry’s nephew were set in 17th century France? The little mouse thinks he can beat Tom with his chivalry and ethics (and musketeer pastiche), and goes around saying “touché, le pussy cat?” at the most hilarious moments possible. The best. So that’s what I was thinking of with the title. (Also, I am finishing a paper about The Sound and the Fury, and it strikes me that Quentin Everloving Compson is not unlike that nephew-mouse).
On to the main thrust of this post so that I can get back to finishing that paper.
My power adapter died for the billionth time. We took the whole deal over to the Apple Store. Even though I knew that the only way to make an AppleCare (ha!) appointment at an Apple Store was via the internet (and since my computer wasn’t working, I had no such thing), it still bugs me. That’s gripe #1. Yeah, I actually booked my appointment via a public library computer. If Apple made an e-reader it would be even more ironic. Oh wait, right.
So we go to the Apple Store on time and are not seen for 35 minutes. I had no idea that Apple was looking into taking over cable. I mean, I know they swiped most of their early ideas from Xerox (oops, Xerox, that one’s on you), but who would have thought they were cribbing the finer points of customer service from the great approximation school of temporal theory. So then blah blah blah, and we get the computer back today.
We specifically told them not to mess with our desktop icons. They specifically did not listen. My desktop, my comfortable, messy, organized-to-me desktop, has been wiped clean by conformocrats and I don’t know where they put the stuff. Quite frankly, that’s unacceptable. There will be a visit to a manager after I finish my paper, because I’m sorry, that’s an arrogant violation of my expectations. Blah blah blah it runs faster if we do this…yeah, whatever. Fix the power cord issue, friend. You don’t have to be a hero. In fact, faceless backroom tech who I haven’t met, you’ve become a villain with your cavalier approach to my long-established and well-articulated organizational preferences. You waved them away like they were so many PC users, didn’t you? How’s the weather up there, thou ascendant Form? You know better and you have the shirt to prove it, smarty. Quite frankly, I’m embarrassed that we probably have the same glasses and iTunes library.
Yeah, those were all easy shots. I know. I actually think this is Apple’s way of messing with me because I sort of called them the devil last week for maintaining a squeaky-clean and hipster-certified ethical veneer all whilst enabling the sweatshop gristmills of Shenzhen, China.
If you’re keeping score at home, that’s:
- Tom and Jerry
- The Three Musketeers
- Dylan Thomas
- William Faulkner/The Sound and The Fury
- Apple
- Sweatshops
- Xerox
- cable companies
- customer service
- Hip stuff (see other items)
all in one compact post. I just do what I do, friends.
If you think I’m being too hard on the good folks at the Apple Store, know that I have no idea who worked on my computer. The friendly chap who processed the work order must not have written down the specific instructions to not go ahead and assume their tech dudes had the right to mess around with my stuff. That’s so…preemptive. Bam, I just added Obama to list of things this post is about.
Speaking of, I had a dream the other night that Barry O and I chilled over pizza for like two hours. He did some explaining. We solved a few world problems. But the first thing I did was ask him how we’re going to prevent this government shutdown. He punted to John Boehner, who was not available in my dream for comment, so that kind of wasn’t fair of you, Dream President Obama. And you said you didn’t come to town for politics as usual. By the way, I know I’m late to this party and all, but a note to the Republicans: 1995 called and it wants its epic fail back. It doesn’t seem to matter if you’re doing what you think is right according to the kind of fiscal conservatism that got you elected in November. Government shut downs don’t seem to spin out in your favor, fellas. Take no solace in the fact that Obama isn’t Clinton. Thing is, friends, he beat the Clintons. He’s the uber-Clinton and the anti-Clinton all rolled into one. Good thing you have one strong front-running candidate ready to get geared up for 2012.
But seriously, Apple, WTF? Touché, le corporate giant? Just wait until I dispatch Quentin Compson. Then we’re gonna dance.
Chris Cocca 
Never before have I felt the fury and contempt of an author directly through my computer! Kinda ironic that Apple had to fix your computer so you could go on this rant about them…..;-}
So true! And you know, I’m not a confrontational person. I’m pretty laid back and mellow. I’m just really mad about this…you know, if they had even made a little folder called “Hey Loser, This Is Where We Put Your Stuff” and put it on the desktop, that would have been something nice. I bear no ill-will toward the personhood of whoever did this…just to his or her misplaced moxie.
I am not glad about your misery, but it is good to see one of my Applephile friends coming to his senses. There is no reason why they should have even turned the machine on (or needed the computer at all) to replace a faulty power supply. Modifying anything about the configuration is, of course, beyond the pale.
If you need some comic relief while writing about The Sound And The Fury, laugh at my pathetic attempt to appreciate it several years ago: http://chadhogg.name/~chad/wordpress/?p=112
I didn’t say this in the post, but they found that the port (or whatever you call it) where the power cord gets plugged in was also faulty. I also had a disc stuck in the DVD drive (the first disc I put in there after having got that refurbished, actually). So they did need the computer, but yes, beyond the pale is a great way to put it. I’m telling you, the Apple Store and I are gonna dance, and it’s not going to be the Axl sway.
ummm. I waited over 45 minutes. Just FYI. At around 30 minutes I asked how behind they were running, at which point I was told “about 15 minutes” and called the lady out for lying. She, shortly thereafter, took her skinny jeans to the back room and was replaced by someone more helpful.
that correction does not get you off the hook for writing a guest post about the whole ordeal, friend/wife.