Jessie, paint your pictures

[austin_dern]

Other stuff going on: I bought a drawing tablet. I do draw, generally badly, and mostly just quick little sketches to keep me going to Michael's and buying sketchpads, but the process of turning those drawings into something anyone else can see I never really get around to. I thought a digital tablet might help me make, if not more sketches, at least more accessible ones. Also, since I pay for a lot of stuff with my Best Buy card I'd built up a number of $5 or $10 coupons good for Best Buy purchases, so thought, why not put them into getting a tablet at something meaningfully discounted from the cover price?

Good theory. I went for a Wacom Intuous 4 wireless drawing tablet, since I don't have one of those fixed workstations that makes dealing with so many wires not too irritating. They didn't have any in stock but the web site promised delivery in five to seven days. This would be quite reasonable, especially since I had no urgent need for one. The seven days passed. Ten days passed. Fifteen days passed. They sent out occasional e-mail promises that my order had not been forgotten; they just hadn't got any in stock yet.

After several weeks of this and with skylerbunny nudging me I called them to ask what the deal was. The deal was, Best Buy didn't have any and was waiting for Wacom to send them some stock. They thought they'd get it in five to seven days but that was just an estimate and they promised that it would surely be in by a date which was five weeks after my order. Or, as I put it, with a rare for me irritated voice, ``You sold me something you did not have, which you had no idea when you might get, or any idea if you might get, and lied about when or if you might ever have this product.'' The poor woman dealing with the irate customer said that the five to seven days was an estimate and I pointed out that ``thirty days'' is not well-estimated by ``five to seven days'', and that it was a lie for them to pretend it was.

She asked what they could possibly do to make this better, and --- I am not joking here --- taking advice from an episode of 30 Rock I didn't suggest a thing. Faced with irate silence she offered a ten-percent discount when it came in which she promised it would, and I accepted that. It happens that it arrived the next day (although getting it to actually work would take another week).

I filled out their evaluation of the online buying process honestly, and they have a sales rep who's e-mailed me asking if I might please call them so they can make sure this is all resolved to my satisfaction. I allowed them to wait before I call back.

Trivia: The journalist Herbert Bayard Swope (1882 - 1958) is said to have been the first man brave enough to wear zippered bathing trunks in public. Source: Satan's Circus: Murder, Vice, Corruption, And New York's Trial Of The Century, Mike Dash.

Currently Reading: Manhattan Transfer, John E Stith.

Comments

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

I can't see why you'd need it to be wireless. I use a corded one with my laptop and have never wished I could wander around more while drawing. :)

When will we get to see more of your lovely little drawings?

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I have to draw with the laptop and tablet on my bed, basically; I need the fidget room of as few cables as possible.

I'll be getting drawing again in earnest soon. Also trying to figure out coloring.

[lexomatic.livejournal.com]

Laptop and tablet on bed? Have you considered a tilting-top laptop stand (an evolution of the rolling hospital tray)? I need to acquire one of those to support heavy books for which hands and horizontal tabletops are unsuited.

Coloring? Layers are very helpful (also palette friskets, but I haven't seen those in any software that uses more than 256 colors). You can duplicate the line drawing to a lower layer, close any gaps, and use it for flood-fill. Or close any gaps in just the outer boundary, flood-fill the outside, select, invert selection, and then color-doodle safely inside.

[lexomatic.livejournal.com]

::: They thought they'd get it in five to seven days but that was just an estimate ...

My guess is, during the requirements-definition phase of the customer-facing website, a conversation like the following transpired. I'm guessing because I've had conversations of this nature (albeit re: exact verbiage in a newsletter, one that serves in part as marketing material).

Programmer: "Can we check the inventory to predict a fulfillment time?"
Manager: "That would require at least 15 more SQL tables."
P: "Okay, next update. Then what's the average fulfillment time?"
M: "Ooh, I've got that right here. Uh, five to seven days."
P: "Fine, but averages can be misleading. Are there any circumstances in which it might be longer?"
M: "Um, I don't know. I've never really dealt with that aspect of the business."
P: "Could you ask someone?"
M: "Sure. Eventually."
Marketer: "No! Don't do that! We don't want to give customers even a hint of possibly implying that we can't fulfill orders promptly! I mean, obviously we can't, but we if we don't admit it, we can hope it never happens."