SCENE: Wednesday, November 16. 5:xx PM. My program manager's office. Conference call.
Other contractor: So let's have another conference call on Friday.
Me: Not sure we can make it.
Other contractor: Okay, then let's do it Monday.
Me: Oh, all right.
SCENE: Monday, November 21. 4:xx PM. My program manager's office. Conference call.
Customer: <Matt's company>, I have a couple of questions for you. Can you stay on after the call to answer them?
My Program Manager: Sure.
Other contractor: <Much talking on one subject.>
...
Other contractor: <Much talking on another subject.>
...
Other contractor: <Matt's company>, I need to talk to you about <XYZ>. Can you stay on after this call?
My Program Manager: Sure.
SCENE: Monday, November 21. 5:xx PM. My program manager's office. Conference call.
Other contractor: So here's the thing. <Details here.>
Me: <Surprise that the thing is something.>
Customer: <Surprise that the thing is something.>
Other contractor: <Insistence that the thing is something>
My Program Manager: We'll totally look into this stuff next week. We need to wait for <certain things>.
SCENE: Monday, November 21. 6:05 PM. My program manager's office. Conference call.
Customer: Can you do A, B, and C?
Me: Yup.
Customer: Okay, cool. Just needed to check.
SCENE: Monday, November 21. 6:30 PM. My office. Pouring rain outside.
Me: I'm so screwed.
SCENE: Monday, November 21. 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM. The washington DC Beltway and Dulles Toll Road. Pouring rain. Slow traffic. Ugh.
SCENE: Monday, November 21. 7:30 PM. Best Buy, Sterling, VA. Pouring rain. Bitter cold.
Me: Damn that line is long.
SCENE: Monday, November 21. 7:45 PM. Best Buy, Sterling, VA. Pouring rain. Bitter cold. The back of the line.
People at the back of the line: <Idle chatter.> I wonder if we'll get one?
SCENE: Monday, November 21. 8:45 PM. Best Buy, Sterling, VA. Pouring rain. Bitter cold. The back of the line.
Best Buy employee: Everybody from this point back <points to a place about 15 people ahead of me> is screwed.
SCENE: Monday, November 21. 9:30 PM.
Wal Mart, Germantown, MD. Pouring rain. Bitter cold. 10 people are already in line.
Best Buy, Germantown, MD. Pouring rain. Bitter cold. 3 people are already in line.
Target, Germantown, MD. Pouring rain. Bitter cold. 0 people are already in line.
Me: Alright, Target line at 4:00 AM is looking good.
SCENE: Monday, November 21. 10:30 PM. Home. Talk to Rob on the phone about work screwing me in Sterling and the best strategies to take. Search on line to see if an additional information has come out.
SCENE: Monday, November 22. 1:30 AM. Home. Sleep.
SCENE: Monday, November 22. 3:30 AM. Home. Wake.
SCENE: Monday, November 22. 3:55 AM.
Wal Mart, Germantown, MD. Pouring rain. Bitter cold. 30+ people are already in line. No way they have that many systems.
Best Buy, Germantown, MD. Pouring rain. Bitter cold. 60+ people are already in line. They have 48 systems.
Target, Germantown, MD. Pouring rain. Bitter cold. Roughly 15 people huddled around the door. I walk up.
One of the huddled dudes: They're alredy sold out. Check this sign in the window.
Me: That sucks. Thanks for the info, dude.
SCENE: Monday, November 22. 4:15 AM to 5:00 AM.
Circuit City, Gaithersburg, MD. Pouring rain. Bitter cold. 22 people are already in line. They are supposed to have about a dozen systems.
Sears, Gaithersburg, MD. Pouring rain. Bitter cold. Roughly a donze people are already in line. They are supposed to have about six systems.
CompUSA, Gaithersburg, MD. Pouring rain. Bitter cold. Way more people than they are supposed to have systems.
Best Buy, Gaithersburg, MD. Pouring rain. Bitter cold. Not a chance.
SCENE: Monday, November 22. 5:15 AM. The K-Mart that's a 5 minute walk from my apartment. I am #7 in line, then #6 leaves. I am the new #6. All of us in line shoot the shit and share our war stories for the night. Somebody goes and gets everybody coffee. A cool girl shows up (#7), she's holding a place in line for her boss (she's the nanny). We goof around and make fun of #5, who has started making bigotted comments for reasons nobody understands.
SCENE: Monday, November 22. 6:15 AM. K-Mart. #7's boss shows up and she leaves. I almost immediately regret not trying to get her number. Oh well, I've had two hours sleep after a stressful day of work after working all weekend. I'm a touch fried.
SCENE: Monday, November 22. 6:45 AM. K-Mart.
K-Mart Manager Lady: Technically I'm not allowed to tell you this before the store opens at 8:00 AM, but we have zero systems.
Everybody: Sucks.
K-Mart Manager Lady: Everybody write down your place in line and phone numbers, and if they come in later today we'll call you. But they aren't listed as being on the truck.
Everybody: Okay, thanks. Sucks.
SCENE: Monday, November 22. 7:30 AM. Home.
Cheapassgamer.com: Amazon.com has $1000 bundles in stock. When you consider that people are paying $1000+ for just the system on eBay, that's a rocking deal.
Me: Damn, I won't be here to recieve the package. Guess I can't order one.
SCENE: Monday, November 22. 7:30 AM - 4:00 PM. Home. Playing Growlanser II.
SCENE: Monday, November 22. 4:00 PM. Home. Phone call.
Rob: So you got totally screwed?
Me: Yeah.
Rob: Damn, I wanted to come over and check it out before class.
Me: They had some on Amazon, but I won't be here to get the package.
Rob: You could have it shipped to me and I'll hold it. Won't even open it if you don't want me to.
Me: Damn, okay. <Checks Amazon.> Damn, they're sold out. And now that you mention it, I totally could have had it shipped to my Dad's (where I'm visiting for Thanksgiving) and had it there by the time I got there. I'm so dumb.
-apon
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