rubinville

We'll get to Circuiy City in a moment, here's just a couple other things first...

This morning on Sportscenter, Stuart Scott previewed the Nets-Lakers game by saying, "How things almost got mad ugly on the court Sunday night." Stuart, you are a main reason I have to keep the remote control in my hand when I watch ESPN these days.

The CNN crawler this morning said something about how a star of MTV's "Laguna Beach" called off his engagement. This is why the terrorists hate us, folks.

A headline on Reuters news service today reads, "Study - Longer needles needed for fatter buttocks." Well I'll be damned.

Okay, now to Circuit City. I went there on Friday with the idea of making a purchase. That's usually why I go to stores and it was no different on this day. In I went to look at the electronic device, (I'd tell you which one more specifically but I can't have you knowing too much about me), only to find it for 850 dollars more expensive than the exact same model I had just seen at PC Richard's. Being the keen shopper I am I went up to a salesman and asked him about the Circuit City policy of matching prices and then giving you 10 percent of the difference.

Before I continue, let me mention that I am using the word "salesman" in the loosest sense of the word. He was no more than 23 or 24, had his shirt untucked and had incredibly bad breath. He also had body language which seemed to say, "I don't work on commission so don't make this difficult for me, okay?" Anyway, I asked him if he would match the price and do the 10 percent and he said that I needed to show it to him in writing. I told him that I didn't have it in writing but if he would call the store I'm sure they could verify it. He then told me that he knew that PC Richard didn't have it in stock. I asked him to call anyway since I had just been there and knew that they did have it, and he finally agreed to do so. Knowing he wouldn't be able to make the final decision on this matter what I asked to speak to a manager. He rolled his eyes and then told me that the manager was on his lunch break and that I should not disturb him. Being the crazy mo-fo that I am, I chose to disturb.

He sent me to customer service to have the manager paged. I stood there for a few minutes while the girl behind the counter stared at me while rudely talking to someone on the phone. Finally, she asked me what I wanted and I told her I wanted the manager paged. She too rolled her eyes, as if I was asking to have a sit down with Tony Soprano, but then did page him. I waited there another 10 minutes or so and then he showed up, with the "salesman" right behind him.

He told me that they called over to PC Richard and that they didn't have it in stock. I told him that I knew they did but I would gladly buy it at Circuit City if he would just match the price and give me the 10 percent of the difference just as their ads claim. Instead he said that he would knock off 400 bucks of their price. I found that pretty interesting since a moment ago he had claimed PC Richard didn't even have it. He had major attitude the whole time and when I told him that was still about 450 dollars more expensive he told me to go buy it at PC Richard.

So anyway, I'm sitting here watching my new electronic device from PC Richard. Oh, I shouldn't have said "watching" there, damnit, now you know. The people at PC Richard seemed knowledgable and friendly AND had the better price by 850 bucks. The people at Circuit City were all about attitude and seemingly couldn't care less whether I purchased something their or not. The first guy's bad breath and the manager's indifference just added to the whole thing.

So, while I'm not gonna send a letter to Circuit City, I'll just hope that a couple of you don't shop there this season and instead go to PC Richard or anywhere else after hearing about my experience. Crazy Eddie is hiding somewhere in Europe on tax evasion charges, but I'm sure he has a website.

The whole thing rings with a little irony when you hear the Circuit City slogan, "Just what I needed." In this case it was actually the complete reverse.

I'll be back with more jokes from the headlines tommorrow. Unless the Circuit City people put a contract out on me, which I wouldn't put past them, except they really are indifferent about their business so I'm not too worried.