Re: Macintosh batteries (no physics)

["David T. Marx" <dtmarx@SIU.EDU>]

Leigh,
        One of my great peeves in life is whenever I am told "Our policy is..."
and the policy is totally illogical.  When you ask either an employee or a
manager why they have that policy, you get "it's our policy."  Last year I
went into a bank while vacationing in New York.  I wanted to change a brand
new $100 bill (these new bills have numerous anti-counterfitting measures).
They said, "We do not accept cash from non-depositors."  A person at the
next window was cashing a traveler's check...no problem with that.   I offered
to show identification as well.  When I asked the manager why I couldn't
change the bill when someone can cash a traveler's check, he refused to
answer the question, turned his back to me, and walked away.  Epilog - the
same bank was accused a week later of money laundering $40 million for the
Russians.


> Computer batteries for Macs may be difficult to obtain. In September
> 1995 I returned from an absence of nine months to my Mac LC and found
> its battery dead. I did what any reasonable radio amateur would do. I
> removed the battery from the computer and went down to my local computer
> store to buy a new one. The store did not have that battery in stock,
> which I thought was odd, since it was a Macintosh dealer. "Oh, the LC is
> an old computer. We wouldn't stock tose batteries any more" they told
> me! I was upset because in my experience batteries only wear out on old
> computers.
>
> I went home and started to do my searching by telephone, ranging as far
> south as Seattle in my quest. I was told by a couple of the places I
> called that the battery was only replaceable at an authorized Macintosh
> dealer, and that I couldn't buy one without paying to have it installed!
>
> All this happened on a weekend, so on that Monday I went to my friendly
> university computer store and told the friendly tech there my problem.
> He confirmed the policy I had been told about, affirmed that he could
> not sell me a battery for my Mac, but after a rummaging about for a
> short while he placed a battery on his benchtop and excused himself to
> go to the washroom. It was clear that he did not expect to see me or
> the battery when he returned.
>
> Parts and labor cost: $0.00
>
> Leigh