I went to Best Buy to visit the Geek Squad because I was immersed in some kind of intractable problem and I barely know how to plug in a lamp, let alone figure out which programs to download and whether or not Apple accepts the blah blah blah. I approached the Geek Squad desk. The young dude there seemed mildly disinterested in my issue and fobbed me off into the audio/visual techie-lingo-I-don’t-understand area. I spoke to a girl over there, who was like, “Shit, I don’t understand your problem, you need to talk to the Geek Squad.” She walked me back to the same dude who had fobbed me off.
(Let me just say one thing. A lot of people complain about customer service or how horrible such-and-such employee was. I get it. It’s annoying. I’ve been there. In general, I don’t share such stories just because I find them to be boring – to write AND to read.)
This is a story about a moment that totally could have gone that way, and I think the Geek Squad guy (a kid, really, maybe 19 years old) was expecting it would go that way. I’m sure it happens to him 10 times a day. He was anticipating my bitch-fit, at least judging from how he treated me at first, with a blend of total disinterest and mild condescension (which I actually completely accept in this case, due to my being barely able to plug in a lamp without calling a 1-800 number. A mild amount of scorn from the Geek Squad is expected.)
But I didn’t have the energy or the inclination to pitch-a-fit, and I wasn’t in any rush, so I was like, “Hello again.” There was a Keystone Cops moment between the two of them: “I sent her to you.” “Well I’m sending her back”.
I had told him initially “If you read the instructions, it says that I need some other software to make this program work on a Mac …” (I ended up being totally right, by the way. Half an hour later, after no less than 4 people became involved in my issue, one Geek Squad guy Googled it and said, “Oh. Yeah. Mac doesn’t support this at all.” I KNEW IT.)
The original Geek Squad guy made a kind of big show of not knowing how to fix my issue … “I don’t know much about Macs. Let me see if I can figure it out”… This did not inspire my confidence.
He said, “Okay, let’s sign on.” I opened my laptop, signed on, and there was my wallpaper.
It was slightly embarrassing because it reveals that – all evidence to the contrary – I am a Tween.
Geek Squad Guy saw that freckled long-eyelashed moody-broody face and said, with no judgment, just pure enthusiasm, “Oh! You’re a Supernatural fan!”
Which was so brilliant.
From that point on, we were best friends. He has watched the entire series. He missed the last couple of episodes. Unfortunately, he hasn’t missed much, which I told him.
He said, “I stopped at the point where Mary was caught in the alternate reality with Lucifer.”
“Oh, yeah. That was pretty bad. She’s still there.”
“Why? What is he doing to her?”
“Well, Lucifer got out and now she’s being tortured by the Arcangel.”
“Oh shit. Michael?”
“Yeah. Michael. Michael has now imprisoned both Castiel and Lucifer.”
“Have they found Jack yet?”
“Nope. And Dean and Sam are suuuuper upset about it.”
“I think Jack is pretty cool.”
“Yeah, me too! I wasn’t sure at first about him, but I think he’s really interesting.”
All this time, I’m signing into my laptop, he’s hooking me up to the Wifi … and for the rest of my stay with the Geek Squad, we talked about Supernatural.
“Those guys are getting really old!” he said. (The men are 39 and 35. Just FYI.)
“It is pretty funny to see them middle-aged now and hesitating before climbing over fences.” (Sheila, stop talking. Immediately. But I couldn’t.)
I am sure all of this has been FASCINATING to read for those of you who do not watch the show.
But I just wanted to describe this because
1. it was so funny and it started from the wallpaper which I had forgotten even was there and
2. he did not roll his eyes at my wallpaper but instead leapt right into the obsession and
3. it ended up being a fun interaction as opposed to stressful even though – EVEN THOUGH – I was right all along, my laptop was not equipped to handle the whatsit-thingie.
He ended up trying many ways to fix the issue and was sincerely apologetic. “I’m so sorry about this!” “Oh whatever, I had a feeling. Thanks for trying.”
Fandom can be toxic. But fandom can also be friendly and hilarious. It can bridge a generation gap. It can smooth out interactions. You can cut to the chase. (The interaction also shows how diverse the Supernatural fandom is.) Fandom can bond a “really old” lady like myself and a baby like this Geek Squad boy.
Anything helping people communicate better is a net positive for our troubled world.
Oh, Sheila, what a beautiful story!
People who sneer at fandom are really missing that point – how it actually brings us together, through the love of something, nonetheless.
Not long ago, I called someone I hadn’t talked to in about two years to ask her to be one of my references for a job.
– Hey Former Boss, how are you doing, it’s Lyrie.
– Which Lyrie?
– What do you mean? (I have a pretty unique first name, hence my being puzzled)
– Do you like Supernatural?
– Yes!
– Oh, it’s YOU! So glad to hear from you!
…
Former Boss and I have spent quite some time in her office discussing the hotness of Sam, etc. Of course, she’ll recommend me!
it reveals that – all evidence to the contrary – I am a Tween.
I love this story Sheila (and that backdrop) and yours too Lyrie — good thing she wasn’t a Dean girl or who knows what kind of reference you would have ended up with.
I love stories like this! That immediate connection between strangers over something you love. Such a great feeling.
I love being part of a fandom where you are immediately best friends when you find a fellow cult member. I just got my hair done and the stylist was sitting chatting with me while my hair color marinated and I happened to look down and see the anti possession symbol tattooed on her ankle. **insert stepbrothers gif**. We had this amazing conversation about how she just binged watched all 12 seasons while recovering from brain surgery and how the show helped with her depression. Was such a great bonding moment that wouldn’t have happened without me seeing that tattoo.
Love this! I need all the positive response emoji to express how great this makes me feel!
(And, Sheila, lamp plugging difficulties aside, I’m not at all surprised that you knew what the problem was all along, because you are literate and actually READ the instructions! I think your next step is to move on to the intimidatingly named Apple ‘Genius’ tech support.)
This is so wonderful! (And wow, so is that shot. What episode is that from??) What a great story.
My “supernatural encounter” comes from the Portland airport, finally approaching the end of a seemingly-interminable TSA line. I was wearing my Supernatural shirt (no faces, just the car and “The Road So Far”) and the grizzled old dude in front of me asks me, “What kind of car is that, on your shirt?”
Of course I say, “It’s an Impala!”
“It’s a ‘67 Impala,” says the TSA agent walking us through security.
“I used to have a ‘66,” the guy says reminiscently.
We have a great little chat about old cars. Then as the TSA agent clears me to go through the metal detector, I ask her, “Samgirl or Deangirl?”
She was a Deangirl. :)
Is it the scene in the cemetery at the beginning of Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things?
Tangent – about a year ago our big old cat Smokey had to go to an emergency vet place that could keep him on iv overnight. We were sitting in the big open room and two adults and a teenaged girl were there – obviously stressed (everybody is).
I kept seeing these big signs BVS
which I think stood for Bluegrass Veterinary Service. I said to the girl that I finally figured out what was puzzling me about those signs – Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And a tension easing mini conversation ensued.