I got a lens in Kalamazoo
So, my NY Jews lost some business today. You know the ones, the Jews who were closed 40 out of the last 45 days. I finally remembered to call them today to check on the status of my lens order. I was treated to some trademark yankee customer service:
Me: Hi, I'm calling to check on the status of an order.
Yankee: Do you know the order number?
Me: Yes, it's blahde-blahde-blah.
Yankee: (pause) Oh, that order's ancient history.
Me: Uh, what does that mean?
Yankee: That means we don't have any of those lens. I've got 105 on order with Pentax, but I don't have any in stock.
Me: So, Pentax isn't making these lenses?
Yankee: Well, I can't imagine that they would ship them if they had them. So, I'm guessing that they don't have any.
Me: (pause) Huh.
Yankee: There's no charge for canceling your order so if you find another shop that has one in stock, you're welcome to get it from them. (said with that special Yankee attitude that indicates this isn't very likely and you're an idiot for thinking it could happen)
Me: OK, thanks. I'll look around.
So, I looked around. The first store I found was also out of stock but admitted that they didn't have a waiting list. The guy said that he had gotten his hands on a few of these lenses over the last few months and sold them all really quickly. He told me that I could send him an email and he would contact me as soon as he got one of these lenses. His thinking was that I was probably one of many waiting on the lens from the other store, but at his store I would be the only one. That seemed like a better arrangement, so I sent him an email.
But I forged on. I found another store that claimed to have the lens in stock. I called them to confirm and after a little digging around, the lady said, "Yep, I've got it right here in my hand." Wow. On my second attempt, I found a store with my "good luck finding that somewhere else" lens in stock. Out of curiosity, I looked to see where the store was located - Kalamazoo, Michigan. Even better, I talked the lady down $100 because she was that much higher than the last store I'd found. That price was $50 higher than my original store in NYC. But I figure $50 is a small price to pay to have the lens in my grubby little hands by the end of the week instead.
My final act was to cancel my order with my NY Jews. OK, actually that was my next to final act. My true final act was to tell you good people about it.
[and now a word from our sponsors...]
Me: Hi, I'm calling to check on the status of an order.
Yankee: Do you know the order number?
Me: Yes, it's blahde-blahde-blah.
Yankee: (pause) Oh, that order's ancient history.
Me: Uh, what does that mean?
Yankee: That means we don't have any of those lens. I've got 105 on order with Pentax, but I don't have any in stock.
Me: So, Pentax isn't making these lenses?
Yankee: Well, I can't imagine that they would ship them if they had them. So, I'm guessing that they don't have any.
Me: (pause) Huh.
Yankee: There's no charge for canceling your order so if you find another shop that has one in stock, you're welcome to get it from them. (said with that special Yankee attitude that indicates this isn't very likely and you're an idiot for thinking it could happen)
Me: OK, thanks. I'll look around.
So, I looked around. The first store I found was also out of stock but admitted that they didn't have a waiting list. The guy said that he had gotten his hands on a few of these lenses over the last few months and sold them all really quickly. He told me that I could send him an email and he would contact me as soon as he got one of these lenses. His thinking was that I was probably one of many waiting on the lens from the other store, but at his store I would be the only one. That seemed like a better arrangement, so I sent him an email.
But I forged on. I found another store that claimed to have the lens in stock. I called them to confirm and after a little digging around, the lady said, "Yep, I've got it right here in my hand." Wow. On my second attempt, I found a store with my "good luck finding that somewhere else" lens in stock. Out of curiosity, I looked to see where the store was located - Kalamazoo, Michigan. Even better, I talked the lady down $100 because she was that much higher than the last store I'd found. That price was $50 higher than my original store in NYC. But I figure $50 is a small price to pay to have the lens in my grubby little hands by the end of the week instead.
My final act was to cancel my order with my NY Jews. OK, actually that was my next to final act. My true final act was to tell you good people about it.
[and now a word from our sponsors...]
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1 Comments:
I grew up in Kalamazoo...
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