*2000-07-19 - 16:01:15*

==WARNING: RANT AHEAD!==

Ok. I can't rant. I don't practice often enough (unlike some people I know). However, when I do attempt to rant, it's usually for a pretty good reason.

Anyway, to get on with it, I've just got my computer back from "repair". It arrived in a cushioned box, with pink plastic wrap, and a note saying wha the fixed. I was as excited as a 6 year old on Christmas day (actually, it should be a 6 year old on the first night of Chanukah, but who cares?). So I put in the hard drive, the battery, the netcard, and hook it up. I turn it on, BIOS starts up, when suddenly! "No bootable drive detected" pops up on the screen.

"No," I think, "This can't be happening. I just got it fixed." So I take out the drive, clear the motherboard, and put it in again. Still no drive is found. 10 times I did this. So, I call Dell, with the thought "I'm getting this settled today, whether they like it or not." in my head. I dial in my code. I hear the musical, automated voice say "There is an extensive wait time for technical support. You may be waiting for up to an hour." So I wait.

And I wait.

And I wait.

I wait some more.

Half an hour passes and I hear the voice again. She says that my call will be answered in 103 minutes. 103 minutes? 1-0-3? The first automated voice said a hour! The lying little cyber whore! All these thoughts go through my head as my father's computer now believes that it's no longer compatible with me as a user.

So, now I've been waiting more then an hour. It just said that I have 59 minutes before my call was answered. Of course 10 minutes ago it said 58 minutes, so I'm not going to believe her this time. She's lost my trust, and I hope she can cope with that. And if he doesn't shut the hell up, and stop apologizing for the technicians taking so damn long, I'm going to scream.

Must be that time of the month for Dell computers...

Note: The Dell people answered my call after 2 hours of waiting. They had me wait 10 more minutes till they told me I had to ship the thing back. Feh.