Someone had a pretty good weekend:
As I’m typing this, I’m on hold at Electronic Arts (EA), trying to check up on a game order. There are Websites that are easy to navigate. EA Store’s isn’t one of those, especially when you want to quickly find out if/when your game is going to be sent to you. Amazon has a pretty good interface, as well as Best Buy, but a 25 percent off coupon was tough to pass up. Chalk it up to experience this time.
At least the hold music was decent – “Fire Away” from Jupiter One; “Fa Fa Fa” from Datarock; “Booming Right At You” from Junkie XL; “More (Radio Edit)” from Junkie XL, featuring Lauren Rocket; unrecognizeable (Caribbean steel drum beats); muzak jazz; – but constantly interrupted by a disconnected Harold Lederman-type voice telling me to go online to get help. I actually tried that and didn’t get too far. Thus, I’m here waiting for the phone. It isn’t that bad, if you have something to do while you wait.
Twitter – check. If you like cringe humor, follow @fireland. He comes recommended from Joe Rogan.
Facebook – check. I could do without all of the invitations to create a farm or become a mafia member. However, I could always use some more poker chips. I’m on a bad run right now.
Fantasy football teams – losing, winning, losing, really losing.
E-mail – spam, deleted, voice mails (get those after this call), new deadline on last basketball previews (no problem), reminder on Q&A submission (oops…)
Check the news – Seattle and Tacoma police are still looking for the Lakewood Cop Killer. Holy shit, the guys is getting help from family and friends in hiding out from authorities. Seattle Times story: http://tinyurl.com/ylgmt7s
I just realized that they pause the music while the “voice” tells me to go online chat for help, because this song is about 10 minutes long (Booming) if it isn’t. Well, that just guarantees that I get the full, rich techno-computer aided sound that Fatboy Slim and others perfected. Right? Er…
OK, it has been a half-hour. No really. My head is beginning to hurt from the now obnoxious techno beats. It was a good idea at first to put it on speaker-phone, but there’s no way I can take it off now. I’ll miss the “click” of the operator. Ah damn man… Well I’m hitting my limit here. I started this blog item at 4:30 p.m., 10 minutes into the call and at past 5 p.m., I’m about done.
And success.
Mike click-clacks his way through the EA system and … Damn. EA is having processing and shipping problems. Mike cancels my order and sends me a $20 off coupon to use to re-order the game. OK, that’s not bad at all. 40-minute wait, resolution, a discount. In fact, the new discount is more than the old one. Chalk one up to EA and for patience.
With that, I’m done for the night. Monday Night Football is on and I have to go order the game again.