I Hate Radio Shack

Somehow I knew, one way or the other, Radio Shack would ruin my day.  Again.

To be fair, I've never been a fan of Radio Shack.  From the first time a Radio Shack salesperson sold us a Tandy computer (c. 1989) and said, "There's no way you'll ever need more than one megabyte of memory," I've been leery of the place.  Is it too much to say that most Radio Shack employees seem "legally-required-to-inform-the-neighbors-of-your-criminal-past" creepy?  Over and over again, Radio Shack has been the place where I've grossly overpaid for a poorly-made component that doesn't quite fit or work, sold by a socially awkward salesperson who has never kissed a girl but wears his Star Trek pointy ears to the Renaissance Fair just in case.

Let me assure you, if you're willing to wait for delivery, there's nothing at Radio Shack that you can't buy for a fraction of that price on the internet.

So… the local Radio Shack called me Friday and offered to buy my year-old iPhone 3GS for $196.  I told the caller that I thought the going rate at Radio Shack was $138 but he assured me, Radio Shack will pay $196 and have a new iPhone 4 waiting for me.  So I made an appointment. 

I went in today, eager to upgrade to a shiny new iPhone 4 but… the pimply, greasy-haired chess club president behind the counter found a "gouge" (how appropriate) on the back of my phone.  Understand that my iPhone is in exceptional condition but holding it up to the light, with his eye inches from my phone, he discovers a pinhole sized mark.  Not a scratch, not a even a dig, but a stabbed-by-a-needle sized defect in the finish.  He then informs me that this scar brings the price for my otherwise flawless iPhone from $196 to $138.  What?

$60 bucks for a nearly invisible nick?!  Forget it!  What a joke.  I got so flustered and upset that I yelled at him.  "You guys called me!  You guys assured me that my phone was worth $196, when I thought that seemed to good to be true.  Now you're telling me that this little-bitty mark is costing me $60?!   You've got to be kidding!!!  I'm never shopping here again!!!"

Unfortunately nobody shops at Radio Shack anymore so my protests echoed through an empty store.  But I'm not going back; I'll buy my flimsy radio-controlled cars and beige-colored plastic radio alarm clocks online from now on.  And thanks for making the electronics department at Walmart look upscale.

Oh, and by the way, World of Warcraft players don't count as "friends" and nobody calls you "the Shack."