Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Crazy perks.

Some people say my blog is lacking in personality lately. Many bloggers struggle with how much personal information they are willing to give out. I am no exception. The answer probably still is - not much. But some things happen that are so weird - today I will attempt to walk a fine line.

Let me see if I can articulate this story while giving very little detail. Mainly because I could probably be sued. No - I'm not shitting you.

A "little while ago" it came to Mr S.'s attention that since he'd worked at "a company" for a "certain length of time" he was being granted a service award. You like this already. Right? (So much detail and all) However, this was a limited time thing. Everyone is cutting back these days, and his place is no exception. He would be one of the last to get this award. I actually didn't even know companies did this anymore. In our world people get compensated with stock.

I've always felt really nervous about the grant. Mr S. and I have debated for weeks on what we should do. I said we shouldn't take it. He said the company might feel slighted over this. On and on it went. The main issue was - it was an odd extravagant gift that really neither of us would really use. There are so many other things we would find useful. You know, like money. Laser surgery. Stock. I don't know. We aren't poor, but the economy scares the shit out of me - and nothing is better than cash.

Today though, we finally broke down and went to the high end shopping mall to pick up the award. A watch. Not your average watch. One that costs as much as a high end gaming laptop. I swear to you. It is the weirdest thing to walk into a store. Pay 56 bucks and walk out with a freaking expensive watch. Of which neither of us will use. Our cell phones tell us the time. And we just aren't really watch people. I was going to take pictures of it on the bunnies. But, showing the watch type might give too much away.

The other thing that is odd is - why a watch? I'm sure it must have some meaning. I found the whole thing really uncomfortable. I carry around a camera that costs almost as much as a small car - yet Mr S. and I clearly were acting like two hillbillies in this high end watch store. We completely stood out. Yet, here this watch sits on my wrist. It is one of those self windy watches. So I guess I'm winding it.

I don't know.. it is just odd. They even had a snooty watch engineer who completely snarked at our hillbilly podunkness. I think it was when Mr S. asked about some such hand on the watch. He called it a stop watch. She corrected him with "chronograph". Which is just a snooty way to say stop watch. Whatever.

When I pointed out to Mr S. that she'd just snarked at him - she rolled her eyes. I'm sure she was thinking we were going to be trouble. I like snarky people and once she figured that out I won her over, and she actually liked us in the end. I think. At least she was less uptight.

6 comments:

  1. There, that wasn't so bad. And interesting too! Because your reaction is totally bizarre to Keyser, who actually likes watches. Keyser's great grandfather got a pocket watch (with a misspelled inscription even) from his local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in the '50s for 50 years' membership. Keyser wears it occasionally (he likes three-piece suits), but ggf probably never wore his. But at least you can wear your "chronograph"!

    And the favorable reaction to the sales girl was also bizarre, particularly since you generally don't like shitty service. Keyser would like to see any sales girl correct his English or roll her eyes at him.

    Not to take over your blog, but this puts Keyser in mind of a story involving Keyser Sr. Seems his cousin ran off with the family heirlooms to England, where she ran native. That means she was very lower middle class. K Sr. once visited London and invited his cousin down from Bicester to some really fancy restaurant, where the staff took an instant dislike to the cousin's accent (wrong sort - the Brits can get really vexed about that). The waiter was intentionally rude to the cousin, and K Sr. eventually decided enough was enough. He went up to the maitre d' and told him, "I realize that my cousin speaks with the wrong sort of accent and I understand that your staff finds her beneath contempt, but I have to tell you that if they don't cut it out right now, you are going to have the biggest f*cking scene you've ever had in this restaurant."

    Keyser would adopt the same attitude himself if some girl behind the counter had the audacity to express her disdain towards him. So your version of the same sort of story is fascinating.

    One satisfied customer!

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  2. Oh, and kudos on the reference to "some people." LOL!

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  3. I don't think Mrs S has properly described the type of 'snootiness' of the watch engineer. This wasn't the snootiness of the rich looking down their nose at the poor, this was the snootiness of a tech-savvy, looking down his/her nose at a clueless newbie. Imagine the look that a mechanic gives you when you try to describe what's wrong with your car by making "whrrr tickaticka" noises with your mouth. Or the computer administrator gives you when you've forgotten your password. This was an "OMG these people know nothing about watches" look.

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  4. Ah. Well, still, it's poor form to express disdain. Keyser has certain professional knowledge, but he doesn't make faces when "regular" people make mistakes about it.

    Anyway, "chronograph" is just a snooty word for "stop watch"!

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  5. See - I still contend it was more than that. There was definitely a noob element to it. I'll grant you that. A "why are these people getting a super fine watch when they don't appreciate the finer things in life like an expensive watch". And to tell you the truth - I don't know why.

    Keyser - Free breaks the feedback loop. Normally I am bitchy about bad customer service. But, this woman could have taken a crap on my foot. The watch was free. Well practically so. 56 bucks.

    I can certainly appreciate a nice watch - but in the end. It's a watch. Telling time has been around for some time. Meh.. nice watch. All I'm sayin'. It is especially heavy though. Which I'm kinda liking.

    Plus, it wasn't bad service. Just a little sarcastic. Which I don't really mind that much. Those are my peeps.

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  6. It is true that in the present day a watch is useless for most people. But Keyser hates cell phones, so he needs one!

    A quality old mechanical watch was a work of engineering art. But now a piece of crap you can pick up for a few bucks in Wal-Mart is as accurate as the finest old watch. Why people pay thousands of dollars for a watch these days is beyond Keyser. Well, no it isn't. Shows they have money to burn and want you to know it.

    As for snarkiness, surely the freeness of the watch was nothing to do with the store, so they get no credit for that. Still, your story, your reaction.

    That's what Keyser finds interesting!

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