information booth

I get asked for information all the time. People that live here ask me where to find this or that, where to shop for this or that, where to sell this or that, where to eat and drink, the list goes on and on. I also get asked directions from many out of towners. I always try to be as helpful as I can and I truly want to make it as easy as possible for people to find what they are looking for. Today a lady from one of the cruise ships and her four family members came in looking for a special kind of harmonica. The kind that is quite large with wood veneer on the sides and has the chromatic slide button. Unfortunately, we do not sell those unless we get a used one in stock and sadly we do not have one at the moment. I suggested she go to Long & McQuade, a large retail musical instrument store near Douglas and Hillside. It is too far to walk so I asked if she was up for an adventure, I would help her out with a map and bus fare. She was excited. I found out what bus to catch, where to catch it and how to get to the store. I exchanged a $US 10 for four toonies and eight quarters to appease the transit gods and wished her luck. I hope she and her family had fun and found what they were looking for. Later, a man asked me where to find a Bank of America. I said that he wouldn't find one here in Canada but any of the major banks nearby could probably help him with a withdrawal. He said he just wanted to check his balance and I suggested the internet. He said it would be easier to just go to a branch of Bank of America. I responded that once B.C. becomes the 51st state of America we will get a Bank of America branch up here in Victoria. He now got excited and asked if there was talk of that happening. Surprised that he took me seriously, I had to let him down and say no. But you never know, when their money is worth a buck fifty Canadian again, it could happen. Naaa

fistfull of dollars

So a couple of days ago, this young gentleman came into the store and marched up to the counter and said he had some old hundred dollar bills that he wanted me to take a look at. He raised his fist up and opened it up quickly, dropping the contents onto the counter. I looked down and saw two very crumpled up and very dirty 100 dollar bills. I don't mean dirty like they were in his hand for any length of time and soaked with sweat and grime. I don't mean dirty like they were acquired in an illegal manner. I mean dirty like they had been rolled around in the dirt and stepped on. They were bills from two series ago. Not the ones we used to have before the current design that no one will accept any more. I am talking the series before those. So if you are over 30 years old, you probably have seen them when you were very young. I said that we only accepted the new style hundreds and we wouldn't be able to take them. He said, "phhh, whatever," turned around and walked out. I am still puzzled as to whether he wanted to just trade them in for change like 20's, 50's or new 100's, or if he wanted to sell them for a higher amount because they were old. Man, they were beat up. Also, the reason why they keep changing the design is because the most commonly counterfeited bill is an old 100. Strange.

Try this!

Hey! Sorry for the delay. Today a gentleman client brought in a laptop to obtain a loan. It was very sweet. There are laptops, and then there are super sweet laptops. The thing was absolutely, obscenely huge with a whopping 18.4" screen. A good percentage of the laptops we see are netbooks with a 10" screen so when you see this widescreen come out of the bag, you know it is less common and more expensive. It was fully loaded with a current processor and plenty of RAM. It also still had the specs sticker on it which makes the job of determining what's under the hood very easy. This machine had full 1080p high definition video output. So in I start with the questions. The gentleman mentioned that we had done business in the past and I started to recognize him but I am not that familiar. I asked him where he got it and he said that it was a gift from family. OK, that is pretty believable. But usually when family gifts an expensive piece of equipment to a member, they usually give the receipt or at least the warranty info just in case there is an issue down the road. So I ask him for any paperwork and nada. I ask him where it was purchased and he responds with, "On the mainland." Ugh, two responses that don't sound too true. So my colleague turns it on and Windows 7 is taking its time to load. This gives me a bit of time to visually check out the condition. I can't help but notice the plastic new film is still on the mouse pad and that's kind of OK. I mean, my wife likes to leave that film on the screen of a new cell phone as long as possible and perhaps he uses an external mouse. But then I see it. The new film sticker next to the mouse pad that says, "Try me." Umm. Hey, wait a second. No one leaves that sticker on, that is just silly. Then we lift up the machine and have a good look and on the side there was a large exhaust/heat vent with some metal teeth like heat sink looking blinds. But these ones are mangled a bit and has some fuzz and hair attached to them. I point this out to the client and he claims that that happened from putting it in a case that was a bit snug for it. Yeah right. Quick thinking but to me it looks like where the security tag was somewhat permanently attached and subsequently ripped off. No thanks. I say that we are far too picky on the condition of delicate things like laptops and I send him on his way.