Hunting the wily radio station....

Sadly, I need to find a new radio station. A couple weeks ago, one of the three morning DJs on K103 retired. This has been my radio station since I started my present job, over 7 years ago. They've had the same morning crew that entire time, I think. So I knew when he retired and was replaced, there'd be a change in dynamic, and I figured I'd give the new guy some time and try to get used to him.

Um. Right. Two weeks later, I don't want to get used to him. I want them to kick him out and try again. Time to find a new radio station. This guy has a voice I personally find irritating - he always sounds just a little sly to me. And he likes to read emails on the air, mostly ones about how nifty he is. Okay, whatever. And his banter is not that amusing but it isn't horrid, either. And he reads the occasional forwarded email lists on the air - you know, the kind that when your friends forward them to you, you delete them because you've heard them 40 million times. Unfortunately, to "delete" them when being read aloud on the air, means switching stations or going to CD - not handy if I'm waiting for traffic.

Now, most mornings, I find myself waiting for the traffic report, then turning on a CD because I don't want to listen to the radio. I'd personally rather have a radio station I can stand to listen to, where I'm not praying the DJs won't speak until they do the bloody traffic. I don't care for news radio, so now I have to find a station where the people don't irritate me (I don't care if they fail to amuse me, I guess), the music is decent, and they do useful traffic reports. This is harder than you would think.

The afternoon show is still fine, but...there has to be a station that won't irritate me on the way to work every morning. It's getting old.

Adventures in retail stupidity.

Okay, only one. Just made a return to Fry's. Now, granted, the need for doing so involves stupidity on my part as well. Friday on the way home, I stopped at Fry's, went in, and picked up three items. I couldn't find the third, so I went up to the help-counter for that section and told them I was looking for a clamshell case for compact flash cards. Not a problem, says the guy, and he takes me over and hands me one. Three seconds flat.

Here's my stupid moment: I accepted it and, it being plastic of the right size and shape, made my way to the checkout counter.

He had handed me a secure-digital case which was a larger case with a small containing space inside. Of course, it is not capable of holding compact flash. So today on my way to the grocery store, I return it; they take it back with no problem (one reason I am fond of Fry's, certainly not the only one). I go back to the same section, explain to the nice woman at the podium (who is losing her mind as more people ask questions than she can possibly handle, and she has too few dirt-flinging monkeys, I mean, fellow employees to assist with shelf searches and customer guidance) about the mix-up, and stress that I want a CF clamshell. She says it should be in a particular location, I say I have looked there and didn't see it (having remembered where I was given the wrong one from and checked near there first).

She finds me the next monkey to come back to the podium. He leads me over, and hands me...a secure digital clamshell. I explain the problem to him and that, while the outside dimensions are correct, the interior structure will not permit it to hold compact flash cards. He asks, couldn't I just carve / file / rip them out? Maybe, if I were desperate, this would sound attractive, but if the plastic won it would not be possible to return it and I furthermore do not see why I should have to do so. So then he finds me one that comes in a battery-carrying case for $5. But I do not need to carry batteries, at least, not batteries like those; my camera uses a different type of battery. Furthermore, the case is twice as thick as it needs to be and is just a waste of space. No, thanks.

I left without a case for my last CF card (which is presently just sitting by the computer - I'd like to have one for it before I do a major trip, but it's not a big worry right now). I'm pretty sure I can get one somewhere else. At the very least, with luck, I won't have to wonder if the monkeys have started flinging secure-digital clamshells (which does seem to be the case).

I'm sure they have the best intents. And it's possible, given the way that woman was begging today, that she'd been sent warm bodies that didn't know the department. And it's certainly possible to make the mistake: as I said, the exterior dimensions of that stupid thing are right - but it's not designed to be used for that. Nonetheless, I consider it a mark of shame for the store that they did that to someone twice in as many days.

On the other hand, at least they process returns nicely.