At 08:07 AM 7/3/98 -0400, Doug Spence wrote:
>
>I asked the employees what had happened to all that 'old computer junk',
>and was told that it had all been THROWN OUT LAST WEEK.
>I'm feeling really depressed about this.
>Well DAMN THEM TO HELL, and damn ME for not being more vigilant.
>Dammit, I wish I had dragged ALL the stuff I wanted to the desk and paid
>for it, and had them sit it in a back room until I could come back for it.
>Dammit, I wish there had been some sort of warning.
All I can say is that it doesn't hurt to tell everyone you
meet that you're interested in old, junky computers, the
kind that you're about to throw out, the ones that can't
run Windows. :-) Tell everyone in the store. Tell them
three times, three different ways. Leave your card. Leave
an extra six cards. Write "Likes Old Computer Junk" on
the front of each. This will at least improve your odds
of avoiding this depression in the future.
In their defense, they exist to attempt to sell the stuff
they get. If it's not selling, what else are they supposed
to do? If you want to be sad, ask to see what they cull
at the start of the pipeline, when they perform triage
as items are donated.
I get similarly upset at the triage performed at the
my favorite local junk spot, the University of Wisconsin --
Madison Surplus sale, as judged by what I find in the
dumpster, and the condition and organization of what
I see in the sale area. The almighty PC reigns, but
are stripped and separated into bins: keyboards here,
monitors there, cases here, spare cards here, manuals
over there. I've found two of my Teraks in this shape:
main unit separated from extra disk drive separated from
monitor and keyboard, and any ancillary docs are long-gone.
In the dumpster goes anything not easily identifiable
as PC or office equipment, but they're quite lax about
that, too - I've seen laser printers and faxes only a
few years old tossed, along with desks and chairs that
aren't stylish enough to sell quickly. If I ran the zoo!
- John
Jefferson Computer Museum <
http://www.threedee.com/jcm>
Received on Mon Jul 06 1998 - 10:06:14 BST