I learned computers on a Mac. The first one I ever used looked like this:
Then I switched to the dark side. When I was at Vassar, I started using a PC and haven't owned another Mac until last weekend, when I bought my first iMac from the Apple Online Store. It looks like this:
It is gorgeous. I emailed Pedraum and told him that not only did I totally, totally, love it, but that when I got rid of my Dell, I could not believe how many cords there were. It was like the film Brazil under my desk. It looked like this:
As it turned out, actually getting my first iMac turned out to be almost as difficult as unplugging my old PC.
I ordered an HP printer and Airport Express, in addition to my iMac, and chose to ship it all to my office address. I got the ancillary items fine a couple days after I placed the order. According to Apple.com, my computer would arrive a day later via Fed Ex. I was super anxious about it, so the following morning I kept checking to see the progress. By 11am or so, I knew my beautiful new computer was on the Fed Ex truck, so I waited. And waited. I finally went downstairs and checked in with our shipping guy to see if it had arrived. Nope, not yet. Back upstairs to wait. Then FedEx.com said it had been delivered. Yay! I rushed back down, but it was nowhere to be found. Back to the site to see who signed for it. Someone named J. Kellogg. Hm--never heard of him. Asked HR and checked the phone list. No one by that name works at Musician's Friend. Uh oh.
My heart was pounding. WHO STOLE MY NEW IMAC?? This J. Kellogg person. Let me at 'em. I called Fed Ex. The customer service person said oh yes, it has been delivered to 545 Stevens Street. Why'd you do that, I ask, when the shipping address on the order was 931 Chevy Way? Well, sometimes packages accidentally get mixed in with others and delivered to the wrong place. It's a huge computer box, I say, not exactly something that can accidentally be mixed in with a letter. I want someone to find that box and get it back to me (SYP, enraged). OK, let me connect you to the local Medford Fed Ex office and call the driver. Back to waiting. Of course he can't be reached and a message is left. I say, what am I supposed to do now? We'll get back to you.
Now, I'm a fairly patient person, but this was my new iMac for Job's sake. I google 545 Stevens Street and find out it's the Connection Point Computer Store down the street. I call up--do you have a J. Kellogg working there? Yes, we do. Can I speak with him please? Hi, are you Mr. Kellogg? Why, yes I am. I'm So Young Park at Musician's Friend and I believe you signed for my computer this morning. Why, yes I did. I think you're right about that. Hold on. More waiting. Yes, I have it here. I say DON'T LET THAT BOX OUT OF YOUR SIGHT. I'll be right there.
I promise Robyn a free coffee to drive me down there and pick up my computer. Why did you sign for it when it didn't have your name or the right address? No real response. I contemplated asking him to pay for our gas, but held my tongue. A nice man (not J. Kellogg) wheeled the box out and we put it in the car. Hey, I just have to ask, why didn't you buy this from us? Well, I actually tried to last weekend but you didn't have any in stock. What kind is it? I tell him and he says Oh yeah, we still don't have any of those.
Get back to the office, iMac box in tow, and heart back down to normal rates. Phone rings and it's Fed Ex. I've got a supervisor now (woohoo). I heard you had a problem? Yes, but I took matters into my own hands and picked it up myself. If I had known I'd have to do my own delivery, I would have had you pay me! Well, we would have delivered it to you. When, I ask? And why did this happen in the first place? We haven't heard back from the driver yet. Of course you haven't.
After all that, my new iMac was worth the wait and Fed Ex's screw-up, you could argue, just made me appreciate it more. It could have been worse. I could still have my old Dell hard drive that sounded like a man riding a squeaky bicycle up a hill.
Tim Russert
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