Minor Crisis

I try hard not to be that girl who uses my blog to laud the wonderful qualities of my boyfriend (except that he's a Bears fan and a great actor, which I have already mentioned), especially since he mentions me in his blog in a not-as-positive light (see his blog referencing arguments that we have had about movies).

However, I am one for giving credit where credit is due, and Scott deserves credit for being the sanity in an insane situation, and for calming me out of a fast-approaching tearful temper tantrum, salvaging our Saturday night. My battle was with Best Buy, a company that I have NEVER had a problem with, and actually like quite a bit. But it was Saturday evening, and I had just purchased a rather nice 27" television from them, only to find out that since it was an "open box" item, there was no remote and no manual (which begs the question of where they put them when they come in with the TV, because the TV is almost certainly shipped to them with those items). No worries, they assured me, I could just buy a universal remote, and I'd be fine. So, lugging a large TV, Scott and I went on our merry way. Only to get home to find out that our "universal remote" was not able to access the menu to the beautiful new TV. So, because Best Buy set up the TV as HDTV, and I cannot access the menu to change it, the TV is stuck in HD, which I do not have, and I do not have any signal. So no TV channels for me. Now, this is still currently under review, as my cable service might also be out, but I cannot determine this without the ability to change the set-up of the TV into regular cable programming, which I cannot do without a remote that will access the TV menu. So after I consume 3/4 of a giant Hershey bar in frustration and teeter on the edge of "ohmygodIjustboughtaTVthatIwillneverbeabletouse--andspentalotofmoneyIcouldreallyuseonotherthings", Scott addresses me in a very calm, matter of fact manner and tells me to get online and check the Magnavox website to see if I can get a replacement remote. Horror of all horrors, they do not have replacement remotes for that TV. At this point, where I am officially about to fall off my rocker, Scott looks at me and orders (akin to the hysterical woman who needs to be slapped, he was brusque, and I needed it) me to call Best Buy. So I do, and after 10 minutes of hold, and 10 minutes of "Really, the universal remote doesn't access the menu?" from the lovely man in Home Theatre, he says he can order the remote from a parts store for an extra $50. At this point, I have no choice, so I agree, and he helpfully throws in a $25 gift card to Best Buy. Yippee. Unfortunately, I had to drive back up to Evanston to actually order it. Fortunately (at least as fortunately as can be in this situation), he puts the $25 gift card toward the remote purchase, and I am left with a $28 bill for the remote. Which ends up meaning that I paid full price for the TV, instead of the discounted open box price. At least they let me return the universal remote.

So in a week and half to two weeks, I should (pray to the Lord that this works) actually be able to use my television, and have a remote that accesses the menu. In the meantime, I am trying not to think about it.

But Scott handled the situation well (including making me drive back up to Evanston that same night, as he said that it needed to be taken care of that day, so that I wouldn't continue to worry about it), and on our way back up to Best Buy, he was able to analyze the situation effectively. I am a planner (if you recall, I wrote an entire blog just on that topic). Scott is a problem-solver. If I didn't plan for something to happen, I am in trouble. I can help other people in their unexpected crises, but for some reason, I cannot see how to fix mine, or even how to deal with it appropriately. Scott, on the other hand, is a consummate director. He is able to problem-solve a situation even if it is unexpected and can approach it calmly and rationally. This is extremely helpful for a person like me, and I was reminded once again what a blessing it is to be in a relationship with someone who is at times polar opposite of me. There are times where communication is difficult, because we look at things completely differently, but overall, I am so happy that I am able to have someone as my balancing point, my counter-weight. And Best Buy should be happy, too, might I add. They were about two seconds away from a screaming, tearful, very angry and slightly hysterical customer. They'll never know just how lucky they were that Scott intervened...