APPLE/MICROSOFT JIVE

So I went to replace my MacBook Pro at the Apple store a week ago today, spent all that money and have had the week from gaobglesiftyehci hell. Well, maybe "hell" is too weak a word to describe corporate America (although in what way these corporations are any longer truly "American" is pretty much moot).

The nice young lady that sold it to me seemed very well informed about the product and what would be accomplished if I paid to have the data moved from my old laptop and cleaned so my youngest son could use it like it was brand new and replace a missing key and a few other things like save my printer info so I wouldn't have to reinstall that etc.

When I went to pick it up the next day another nice young lady who seemed very well informed said she didn't know what the other lady was talking about when I saw that the old computer was exactly how I'd brought it in. She said they didn't "clean" old computers when they transferred data or replace keys or save anything like the printer install etc. etc.

When I asked for advice or even help about downloading Word so I could do the main thing I do on my laptop which is write, she showed me a deal I could get by doing it online, better than what the store was offering even though I told her I'd had brain surgery and wasn't always on top of the technology so it would be much easier if it was like the old days when they would install it for you.

When I got the new computer home and tried to download the updated Word it wouldn't complete the process no matter how many ways I tried it. And when I tried to look at a video on YouTube (the one I eventually posted on my blog in my obit for Earl "Speedo" Carroll) it told me I needed to download a new Adobe Flash player so I clicked on where it said to download it and it too would not complete the process even after I gave it my credit card info and everything else it asked for.

I called Applecare which I had also paid for, but they said I had to call Microsoft about the problems downloading Word and they couldn't help me with the flash player either. I called the store where I bought it and the first young woman had talked me into paying for something called "One on One" because she assured me that would get me the new key and the old computer cleaned and the rest that it turned out they don't do according to the second young woman, they told me I could make an appointment for some other day because their one-on-one people were all booked up (this in a store that when I bought the thing had at least thirty people in red shirts serving customers but obviously they weren't knowledgeable enough to know what they were talking about since I'd already been misled twice).

I asked for a manager and they said they were busy so I went back to the store (not that close by) and asked for a manager there and they told me to wait for one of the older looking red shirted workers and finally another red shirt got me a different red shirted manager and he went to a different site than the computer had told me to download the flash player from and did it with no problems and then installed Microsoft Word from a package I paid for from the store and there was a notice to upgrade immediately which he said was normal because from the manufacturing to the store and then to the customer there was probably an upgrade and I should do it when I had some time.

So I tried that this morning, like maybe two hours ago and have been on the phone ever since. The download I assume took place, it shut down the computer and when it came back on there was one of my book manuscripts open and when I tried to close it the document went gray and the spinning little bars started and it wouldn't let me close it or minimize it or do anything with it. There was also a file in my trash and a stack of downloads in my dock. So I called Applecare and they made it clear they could do nothing about the Word problem, I had to call Microsoft, and the lady from Applecare said she had no idea why there was a file in my trash but if it wasn't there before I upgraded it must be something I should throw out so I did and the download stack on my dock was just there for my convenience as a shortcut even though I told her it wouldn't open so was useless.

Then I called Microsoft and got a robot which after much arguing with it I finally got a live person who asked in a deep accent if I was in the U.S. or Canada and then proceeded to misunderstand everything I said while I kept having trouble understanding what they were saying for twenty minutes until I gave up in frustration.

So, let me understand, there is no one among all the unemployed in the USA who could answer phones for Microsoft because that would cost a corporation with outsize profits and payouts and CEO salaries too much money? And with all the people Apple has working for it and their supposed image as the more user friendly product they can't find anyone who actually knows the product better than an old technodyslexic post brain op (I know a lot of you think I use that excuse too much but you would too if you had it to use and felt the way I do sometimes) old dude who just wants to write some books and blog and email (don;'t get me started on the new email format—on the old one when you hit the icon for the form to write a new email the address book was also there so you could open it and click on a name and it would appear but the new format doesn't do that so you have to open the address book now called "contacts" and get the address etc. or write the name in and it will appear which doesn't help when I'm writing to my poetry workshop group and want to address them all etc. etc. et-endlessly-cetera)...

Where are the teapartiers and rightwing conservatives who want to "take our country back" when it comes to giant corporations that exploit everyone from workers to customers so that profits continue to be greater than anything ever seen in times when there was much less economic inequality in this country and things seemed to work so much more smoothly and store clerks knew their business and when you called a store or company an actual person who also knew the business understood a Jersey accent even if theirs was Midwestern or Southern etc.