Coop basks in the glory of his new bike, while congratulating:
AfroBahamut: Level 22
Kaytee: 7,000 Saves
Metal-Therapy: 8.00 Total Voting Power
aldlv: Major
KIRBYLINK: Corporal
Seriously, is that all I've got for the list this morning?
Oh well - some Coop related news then.
I went into Halfords (Car parts & Bike shop) on Thursday to purchase a brand new bike, which was on offer from £300.00 down to £149.99. There was one on display as I walked into the shop and another as I walked into the bike section. I asked the lad behind the counter if I could have one of them. He said he would go and check that they had some in stock.
When he returned, he said that they hadn't got any left. When would they be getting more? I enquired, to be told that they wouldn't be getting any at all, as the model was being discontinued. Can they sell me one of the display models? No, they have to be sent back to Head Office, was his astonishing reply. He took my phone number and said that he would call me back on Friday to advise if any stores in the area had one and that he could get it delivered to me.
I went home and decided to look online, for a bike like this is too good an opportunity to pass on. I found the bike and all of the stuff that I was after and proceeded to the checkout. Would I like to pay for home delivery (+£20.00) or collect it from a local store? I decided to see which local stores had the bike in question. My local store which I was in not half an hour ago apparently had the stock, so I ordered collection from there, website told me "please leave 1 hour for our staff to prepare your order, before attempting collection." That meant collection on Friday, which wasn't so bad.
Then the same guy who had served me at Halfords phoned, only to give me a rant, advising me of how not to use the internet, because its stock levels were wrong and how 'not to go behind my back'. As you can understand, this really raised my hackles. It got worse when I didn't receive a call all day from them, letting me know if they had or indeed had not got the bike.
Saturday morning and I ordered the bike again online (Through my mother, because we're being devious now) and we went to the store to collect. I went to the car parts and looked around, while my mum went up to collect. She nodded to me that the bike was there and they were fetching it out, so up I went to grab the rest of the stuff, which I calmly collected and brought to the desk as well, but we were acting as separate customers.
"Is that the Shockwave XT920?" I calmly asked, pointing to the bike in a box, which clearly said "Shockwave XT920" all over it. Got any more left? Then the guy looked up and recognised his worst nightmare - me, without my merchandise, despite the fact that his colleague was willing to sell it to someone else.
"That's the last one, I'm afraid." He didn't try to defend, which is always a bad policy in front of a pissed off Coop. "Then you must have forgotten to call me to say if you'd got one in stock yesterday, considering that you said that you would phone the local stores and try to find one for me." His colleague was a little short on cards in the deck, so he waded in as well "It was Neil's day off, so he couldn't have. It was my responsibility to, so I'm sorry that I didn't, sir." At least I was getting respect, so they were admitting guilt.
"Funny, considering that the exact words from Neil, over here were "I'll phone to local stores tomorrow and I'll let you know before we close the shop if I've managed to find one." Not one mention of a day off and that he'll get a colleague to sort it. Nice try, sunshine. Where's my bike?" Mum was biting her tongue at this point.
The pair floundered helplessly and I was trying my best to stay calm over it all, as I knew the joke. "We can phone all the local stores and let you know if they've got one for you, sir." I told them that since I wasn't convinced that they would call me for starters and that I hadn't made plans, they could do that now, but not to let this detract from serving this lady, who I was sorry to have kept waiting. Mum duly paid and was assisted in loading the bike in a box into the back of the car, while I waitied and granted a steely gaze to Neil, as he phoned as many stores as he could, in a desperate search for the bike. He found one and told me that it wouldn't be in the store until Wednesday. I said "I'll just have the gear for now, placing my basket of helmet, mudguards, gloves etc on the desk, which he served me. He tried to charge me for the bike, which I declined, as I wouldn't be paying for the bike until I had received it at the store.
When I had paid for the goods, I turned to find that Mum had returned for the punchline. "Oh, by the way Gents, I've already got one, so don't worry about the bike. Mum managed to find me one." Neil started to snarl something and I walked back over to him "Pick your words carefully, as I'm going to write this all down and send a letter to head office, Neil." He swallowed his pride and calmly answered "Is there anything else I can help you with, sir?" I turned and waled out, confident that he had been humbled.
Don't get mad, get even.
