One of my best Christmas presents this year was a little rolled up piece of paper, which (when unrolled) displayed this beautiful picture:

*choir of angels singing*

That’s right. Santa gave me a Terabyte drive.

I really need this.

My predilection for video editing has eaten massive amounts of space on my computer, which only had 320 Gb to begin with (that’s right, ONLY 320 Gb. Remember when 2 Gb was big??).

The hard drive is crammed full. I’ve uninstalled most of my games (which I miss desperately, but there is no time for games now. I have a BABY. It’s like having my very own sim, which functions in real time and has no pause button) but my drives are both 90% full and my computer is slowing down.

Hence Santa’s little gift.

Why a photo? You ask.

Well, because Santa ordered the drive from Future Shop on December 6th, and it still had not arrived as of our departure for Nova Scotia.

Later that day, PH, er, I mean, SANTA, checked his email and made an interesting discovery:

—

Hello Santa:
Sorry for the inconvenience but the following products are currently out of stock. We’ll do our best to reduce the wait time for this inventory.

Item(s) currently out of stock
Western Digital Caviar 1TB 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive (WD10EADS)

—

So that sucked.

The odd thing is that “Western Digital Caviar 1TB 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive (WD10EADS)” seems to have disappeared entirely from Futureshop.ca.

It has been replaced by “Western Digital Caviar 1TB 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive (WD10EARS)” which is in stock! For $60 more!

ISN’T THAT GOOD NEWS?

So PH Santa gave Future Shop a little call. He wanted to know:

1. Why the product hadn’t been shipped back when he ordered it.

2. Why it took them until Christmas to notify him that his wife could expect diddly bupkiss in the mail.

3. Why the awaited product had disappeared entirely from the website, and been replaced by a virtually identical product for nearly double the price.

4. Whether we could expect to receive my gift ever.

5. Why they sucked so much.

In that order.

The guy on the other end was able to help him with none of these questions.

However, PH was able to gather that there was some kind of Greater Power at Future Shop who collectively made these decisions, whom the Help Dude referred to as “them”, much in the same way that a minor henchman would refer to “the Dark Lord”.

Q: Why wasn’t the product shipped weeks ago?

A: Actually, the odd thing was that it was ordered at all. Future Shop discontinued the product on Nov 28, 2011.

Q: Then why was it on the website, IN STOCK, and available for order on Dec 6, 2011?

A: Unsure. He would have to ask “them”.

Q: If it was discontinued in November, why did it take until Christmas Eve for them to notify him that he could not get the product he ordered?

A: Unsure. He would have to ask “them”.

Q: If the product is discontinued, why does the email give false hope that the awaited gift might still arrive in the mail?

A: Unsure, but “they” surely had “their” reasons.

Q: Why had the previously ordered hard drive been replaced with a virtually identical model, at nearly the double of the original price?

A: Well, see, this one has a better data buffer.

Q: Is that really worth nearly double the price?

A: Unsure.

Q: Could we just recieve the other hard drive as a substitute, since the one we had been promised would probably never be delivered?

A: No. It’s a different model number, you see.

Q: Could he help us in ANY WAY?

A: No. He suggested that we email “them” and ask if they would honor the original price with the newer model.

Well, he did just that, several days ago now. The Dark Lords of the Email have yet to respond.

WHY FUTURE SHOP NO LOVE US??

So, what do you think will happen next?

UPDATE: In Which The Suffering of Others Causes Me Mild Inconvenience