So I pop into Best Buy - never been in one of their stores before, usually I buy my stuff from the retail leg of the pro store where I usually shop (Sid, etc - yes, I mean Advance).
So I'm looking for something pretty easy - a subwoofer cable, and yes, I'll call it that to make sure not to confuse the Bose jockey that's trying to help me find it. One sub cable, 25' please, the Audio Research peg is empty where the 25's should be. We take a trip around the store (apparently cables are an impulse purchase, so there must be 4 different displays of them!) and during our leisurely stroll, the sales goon I'll refer to hereafter as Thing1 decides to test his vocal cords and ask
"You setting up a kickin' home theatre? 5-point-1? 7-point-1?"
Observation #1: Thing1 can't even get the nonclemature for Ex-dot-1 correct.
'Uh, yeah... Axiom mostly, with a Hsu sub'
"Oh cool, yeah, those rock" (that's got to be a conditioned response - until a year before I bought, I'd never heard of Axiom, so I tested his knowledge with one of the only other things I can double-speak with conviction)
'Yeah... real high-end setup : Heckler & Koch receiver - the MP5.1, DVD player is a Walther with Steyr CD player... I haven't gone to a multi-format player yet'
"Aww... wicked, bet it really rocks" (or rawks, maybe r0x0rz, not quit sure how to stereotype this pustule)
Observation #2: Thing1 does not know the difference between an electronics manufacturer and a gun manufacturer.
So we figure out that there are no 25' non-boutique cables in the store. No problem. Then he makes the biggest mistake he can - offers up a blister packed Monster(tm) brand cable - Lisa would later say based on my facial expression, it looked like the proposed transaction was $39.99 in Canadian funds, plus PST and GST in exchange for a rotted fetus. I suggested I didn't want a Monster(tm) brand cable, and he asked "Why? Have you had a bad experience with the brand?"
At this point, I would love to tell you that I launched into an elegant soliloquay on the cable fable, marketing and product placement. I didn't... with him waggling that, that... thing under my nose, it was even glaring up at me with that shimmering, silvery three letter word... THX... the most I could do is stumble out a "Gah... hummaslumma... Noel Lee..." and a string of expletives - some in languages I didn't speak until that moment. I did suggest that Noel's maaaagical copper wasn't up to the marketing hype and left.
Bren R.
