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: the last refuge of the persecuted crack smoker

arduino != iPhone.

By "Nicolle"

this morning, i made the mistake of going to the rat shack. like any electronics hobbyist after about 1995, i know that radio shack is full of fail when it comes to electronics. sure, there was once a day where you could actually go there and talk to people who knew about radio components, but those days are long gone. i prefer to buy components anywhere else, but i needed a few things for a project i want to have done to show off at my penguicon talk in a week and a half. i didn't want to risk stuff ordered online not getting here in time, and i didn't want to have to scam a friend with a car into driving me to fry's...so, i was kind of stuck visiting the rat shack.

i went into the store, picked up some pushbuttons, resistors, and pieces of protoboard, and made my way to the checkout counter where the following exchange ensued:

Sales Clerk: would you like some batteries? we have a big sale on batteries today.
me: no, just the components. i've got more batteries than i know what to do with.
Manager: what are you making?
me: oh, just a little keyboard for an microcontroller music project i'm prototyping.
Manager: do you have an iPod or an iPhone?
me: [confusedly] ummm...yeah...but i'm not doing this project with my iPod. it's being done with an arduino microcontroller board.
Manager: what kind of iPhone do you have? only at Radio Shack, we'll give you trade-in value for your iPhone, toward a new one. someone just got a new iPhone for $8. i just thought that would be enough to make you want to get a new iPhone today.
me: no, just the components for my project. good day.

okay, fine. i can't get too wound up about the attempt to sell me batteries. i was clearly buying electronics supplies, and electronics projects can be run with batteries.

but, an iPhone?

seriously?

something tells me that guy does not even know what a microcontroller is.

Full post as published by the last refuge of the persecuted crack smoker on April 21, 2010 (boomark / email).