9/17/10

So I get an e-mail on Wednesday afternoon asking about the projector in a certain meeting room. Turns out the CEO is to have a meeting Friday and the e-mailer wanted to know how the projector’s image looked. I had looked at it recently, and noticed people using the room turning off the lights to see the image, and deduced it was time for a new lamp. I told e-mailer this. He asked for one to be purchased and sent to us overnight so I could install it Thursday and have it ready for CEO’s meeting Friday. “No problem,” I say while thinking, “Problem, this is awfully short notice.” I e-mail the folks at my company and request an overnight shipment of a lamp. About half an hour after I send it, I decide to call Tina at the home office to make sure she got the e-mail. She had and was about to copy me on an e-mail to Epson to make sure they had the lamp in stock. I get that e-mail. A few minutes later I get a reply saying that Tina needs to talk to someone else at Epson because this sender isn't over the account any more. Tina sends the new person a request for confirmation of availability. We wait. Thursday morning I get an e-mail from the new Epson person saying that the part number we gave her wasn't in the system, “What is the projector model number?” she asked. Since it was getting late in the game, I didn't wait for Tina to get in to work and reply. I sent the information required to Epson. “Yes, the lamp is in stock and as soon as we get your purchase order...” blah blah blah. Later, at virtually the exact same time, I get two e-mails. One is from Tina and the other from the originator of the situation, Chuck. Tina’s e-mail confirmed all of the order stuff with Epson while Chuck’s asked how we were looking for the lamp. I replied to Chuck that the lamp was in stock and on order but that I had no confidence in us getting it in time. He asked if there was a lamp locally we could have couriered to us. I began looking into it. After a few calls, I located a lamp in Not Texas for about half the price of a module. You might notice the two different words there. A “module” I am willing to install. A “lamp” needs to be installed into a module before it can be installed. That was the reason for the cheap price. “You bring projector, we clean, install lamp, $199.00, OK?” I send Chuck an e-mail saying I'm headed his way with options. We discuss stuff and formulate a plan. When the room vacates at 1030 h, I will go in and yank the projector. I will head over to Not Texas and wait while they install the lamp. I will come back and re-install the projector. The CEO will have his meeting and be none the wiser. I'm waiting outside the room at 1030 h. The monkey-spanks inside don't shut up and leave until almost 1100 h. I finally get the thing and head out around 1130 h. I find the place in Not Texas and pull into the parking lot just as two dudes are pulling out. “I sure hope that isn't the whole crew headed out to lunch,” I say to myself. It wasn't. I go in and tell the dude who I am. He finds the lamp and sets an older guy to work on it. This guy probably knew Moses. And yes, by that I mean he was middle-eastern and at least 4,000 years old. He began taking apart the module. His work and methods did not inspire me with confidence. I watched as he struggled and fought (repetitious redundancy is something I do from time to time to time) with it and finally got it apart. He got it back together a little more quickly, but he still didn't inspire me. Once the projector was all reassembled, he asked if I wanted to fire it up. I said, “Um, hell yeah Methuselah. I want to make sure you didn't FUBAR this machine with your ham-fistedness!” Well, I didn't use those exact words. It was more like, “Yes, please.” He grabbed a power chord, C5 I believe... wait, no. Power cord, without the “H.” he hooked up the projector and hit the power button. It eventually came to life and projected an image on the wall. He fumbled with resetting the lamp hour meter but I could tell he cocked it up. He shut it down and I went to pay. Chuck had phoned over his credit card number and they tried to run it. It didn't go. I called chuck and he re-read the number to them. They tried again and it worked. Whew, I didn't want to pay for that out of my pocket. I headed back to Texas. I stopped at Burger King and had a Whopper on the way back. Once I got here, I reinstalled the projector in the room and managed to actually reset the lamp hour meter. I took the receipt to Chuck and settled in to my desk for a well deserved rest. Then I went home. So, that is why y'all didn't get a rant yesterday. As for Wednesday, I just didn't get around to it.