Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Ridin' around on my Rock Bus, pickin' up chicks and getting some Tang

I see that captured your attention... It's not as glamorous as it sounds.

This was the trip to Fairbanks to return the blower and get more supplies.

So the Rock Bus was the Manley Village Express bus, Ken Smith our neighbor was the driver and fortunately (or in reality not that surprisingly) we had to hit the same stores, seemed like the right idea was to share it for picking up our stuff and dropping off the blower. In today's gas prices too, it's a damn sight cheaper using the truck. So since I was the only passenger it was christened the "Rock Bus", we took the blower back to Spenards who cut us a sweet deal on the rental came out at $240 for about 13 days, which is about $500 less than their posted rental rates, mind you this was a piece of crap blower, and looked ready for the junkyard but it did the job.

So that was yesterday, today first thing was to go to Lowes, who because they were incapable of getting us the blower we needed had agreed to reimburse us the difference between their rental charge and Spenards charge or to put it $30/day in rental costs. Ok so we arrived, with our $240 in receipts for our 13 days... Chatted with the Manager who asked how we wanted it, store credit would be just fine, since I was planning on getting a bunch of drywall supplies. So Ken the manager at Lowes handed this off to a cashier, to credit us with $150, hmm... not good before we could grab him he was off, so we asked the cashier exactly how much she was crediting $150, we explained the deal as worked out previously $30/day, but for 7 days which was the standard rate since Lowes told us when we bought it that we'd get a day for every 20 bags, but that normally for Bush orders we'd have it for as long as we needed it for free. We had 146 bags or 7 free days... at $30/day that's $210, not $150. Is this making sense...?

So Ken the manager comes back and says "No we agreed to $150 store credit" I immediately hit back with nope, we agreed store credit, not the total, I'd take $150 cash, but not in store credit. He then developed a strange pulse in his temple and tried to shout me down claiming I'd agreed (which I patently didn't since we didn't even discuss a total). So looking him square in the eye I relayed the following information.

"I'll take back my receipts, thank you very much, and you can keep your in store credit, and you can rely on the fact that I will NEVER spend another dime in this chain."

So we chose to get the supplies from Home Depot, not Blowes. Which was a good deal for Home Depot, since Ken (the neighbor and bus driver) needs to order supplies for an extension he's doing in Manley, and they're getting that business (about $11,000 in materials), when we checked out, we suggested that they might want to send a "thank you" note to Lowes. Now not that I'm suggesting this to anyone else, but if anyone else would feel aggrieved in this situation, then perhaps you might want to consider giving Lowes a wide berth in future, often there are alternatives that are more local in Fairbanks for instance there's Spenards (who did us a good deal) and Northland Wood (who did us a good deal too), and Home Depot who are not a bunch of assholes.

Now interestingly our friend Rose from Fairbanks used to work at that very store, and she cannot remember ever charging anyone rental for an insulation blower that had previously bought that insulation, regardless of the length of time that they'd kept the blower.

Anyway so I've explained the Rock Bus!...

So what about the Chicks...

Yeah Ken picked up 5 Americana, and 5 Red Chantecler chicks, which we thought about for this year, but decided against, until we can dedicate some time to them.

And what the hell is the Tang...
Orange powdered beverage, bought at Sams Club, it just seemed to fit into the general tone of the title... And is most excellent when mixed 1 part Tang to 2 parts Country Time Lemonade, which I know is a strange chemical soup that will ultimately result in my early demise, but just tastes really good.

5 comments:

Sam.... said...

Way to go, Gungnir!

Unknown said...

I have found that we get better service at Home Depot than Lowes as well. Not impressed there.

Anonymous said...

Hello, To those who write this blog and those who read it. I have just finished reading it from the begining to the end(it took me about a week and a half),and all the comments that have been written about it. Let me just say I am in awe of all that you have accomplished. I cannot even begin to think that I could do 1/2 of what you have done. I will continue to follow and hope that you continue to have the kind of off grid life you expect.

Keith in PA

Gungnir said...

Hey Keith, I admire your tenacity, reading the whole thing takes some time, and some determination. Especially considering my propensity to use run on sentences, and extend the sentence way beyond what might be considered good, grammar, I'd like to find a good example for you, but I'm struggling at this point.

Thanks for the Kudos, I don't think that we've actually achieved quite as much as we'd hoped in the time we've been here, but perhaps we're just overachievers.

We're both delighted that you and others (109 registered followers Whoot!) have found us (since we're obviously huge advertizing whores), and enjoy reading about what we're doing with our lives.

Jeremy and Jenny said...

Nothing makes you feel more rejuvenated and ready for a long day of hard work in the cold and snow like a big glass of hot tang or lemon lime gatorade. Long a staple of winter camping.