It's time for me to get a new number anyway. I've been here over a year and I still had a Las Vegas number. I've switched to a local area code.

"You should have just gone to the mall!"

CAUTION: RANT AHEAD!!
I did go the mall ... and several cell phone stores. As a matter of fact, I spent over two hours shopping for a phone in person. What I am AMAZED at is that cell phone companies spend tens of millions of dollars a year to get people in the stores, but they don't spend ten cents on training their employees. I was there, with cash in hand, ready to walk out with a phone, but no one could sell me one!!

My story:

I want a "rugged" phone - one that can handle a lot of outdoor activites, can be dropped, and is water-resistant. I saw one advertised by Verizon in the SWA magazine as I was flying home from Las Vegas in October.

ALLTEL: I walked in the store and they asked my name and then told me that it would be 30 minutes before someone could see me. OK, I'll come back later.

At the mall, I went to the VERIZON kiosk. They showed me the phone that I wanted, but it wasn't charged so I couldn't see its' features and they didn't have any in stock so they would have to order one for me. He quoted me a price, but later raised the price by $50 because he had mis-read it earlier. All in all, he was very helpful, but couldn't close the deal.

I went to the SPRINT kiosk. She told me that Sprint/Nextel has a few rugged phones, but that they didn't keep them in stock at the mall and I should drive to the corporate store a few blocks away. OK, I went. I walked into the Sprint store and a woman asked my name and if she could help me. I told her that I wanted to buy a rugged phone and she said that they don't have any. I told her that they do have one and she yelled across the store to two employees that were sitting on the counter and talking to each other. She yelled three times, each time a little louder, before they acknowledged her. She asked them and they said no. She asked them why they were ignoring her and one of them replied that they were busy talking to each other!!!!! I walked around the store looking at phones and found the posterboard for the phone I wanted, but there was no phone on display. I caught the attention of yet another employee that turned out to be very helpful, but said Nextel phones will not work in my area and I would have to get a Sprint phone, but they don't keep them in stock and that I would have to go to Dallas (2 hours away) to see one. She showed me some pictures online. I said that I would go home and look at them online and she told me that she was in the "employee area" of the website and that I wouldn't be able to view the phones on my own?!?!?!?!

AT&T store was well lit, had customers inside, and the "open" sign was turned on. I pulled into the parking lot and parked next to the door. A woman saw me as I was walking to the door and rushed to the door to lock it before I could open it. I was about a foot away. She turned around without making eye contact and walked over to the "open" sign and turned it off. The hours posted on the door were until six o'clock. I looked at my watch - it was 6:15.

Back to ALLTEL. The waiting time was down to five minutes so I waited. As I did, I looked at display phones. When the sales rep helped me, he quickly informed me that they had no rugged phones and suggested I go to Verizon. No problem since Verizon has purchased Alltel, but what annoyed me was that he called me "Dude" no less than fifteen times during our four minute conversation. Now, a few years ago it really bothered me when younger people started calling me sir, but dude?!?!?!?

So, since I'm going to Dallas in a couple of weeks in order to fly to Las Vegas for the Chip Chat auction and Super Collectables Show, I decided that I would just wait until then and try the Dallas stores. So I came home and called Verizon to just cancel my account. Well, the phone rep was well trained, professional, and very friendly. She hit me with one incentive after another after another after another. She ended up making me an offer that I couldn't refuse - and not in the bad way. So I bought the phone from her and signed a new two-year contract. In the process of the transfer, she deleted all of my old phone information before I asked her if I could transfer the information. She said "Oops" so it's okay. Seriously, adding back in the phone numbers is no big deal to me. It gives me a chance to purge a few. And I don't do downloads or ring tones or pictures or whatever those younger "dudes" do with their phones.

Whew, I feel much better after this rant. Thanks Bob for giving me the opportunity. A couple of cups of coffee, two DIY shows on the tube, and a good rant - Ah, I think it's gonna be a great day! (OK, I stole that from a song.)

Going to the Super Show? I look forward to seeing you there if you go.

Tyrus