Looking for a Natural Gas Grill? I can't help. They are impossible to find! Sure plenty of nice places have some around town, they also cost an arm and a leg, maybe even two. Every other place has Propane grills. Of course my point for you eager readers isnt the fact that I cant find them. The fact is I've called the following places, and recieved the responses I've listed below. In each case I said I'd like a Natural Gas Grill, do you have them.

Home Depot - very nice, the person took my name, and said my manager will call you back, they did within 15 minutes. They offered to order one for me
Lowes - operator transfered me to seasonal, waited, transferred again, waited, this cycle repeated itself for 15 minutes, finally got someone. They also offered to order one for me
BJ's Wholesale - this lady didnt even speak english well, not did she understand the difference between propane and natural gas, I explained it to her.
Kmart - again same pattern as lowes with the operator cycle, and finally, I got some kid in seasonal, who said nope.
Walmart - transferred to seasonal, where someone looked for me, and didnt find any "they think".
Target - same as kmart, someone in seasonal said no I dont think so.
Sears - played the operator game again. Finally got someone who did some checking, and said nope.
Suburban Propane - yeah we have tons of them, yeah they are all a years salary to get them!
Ace Swim and Leasure - we dont carry them anymore... course their website says they do.
Mileage Master - yeah we have tons, yes they do cost at least 2 arms, one leg, and maybe a few fingers.
And even Char-Broil themselves - I played the operator game here, and finally someone said they can ship one, it would take a week or 2.

So the couple points I'd like to make is. How can a company not special order stuff for you? It seems like that would be an awesome way to increase their profits. Also how come you dont have competitent people running your telephones. After the first time the telephone doesnt pick up in seasonal, maybe put me on hold, and use the loudspeaker. The lady at lowes tried transferring me 8 times. Unreal. And finally we live in the internet age. Where everything should be within our reach... how come I cant order a product that I know Char-Broil makes, and have it within a few days? I have to wait weeks. Hopefully technology will not just advance us, but help us become better at sales in general. Computer stores like jandr.com tell you how many items they have in stock at each of their warehouses. Thats the way it should be. The old brick and mortar stores need to get up to speed.
posted by Bryan at 6/10/2003 02:01:00 PM

MythTV... So, TIVO users... you have a nice nifty contraption to record your tv. Either in a live type mode, or in a record, so I can watch later. Well how about all us true computer nerds out here who have a nice linux box serving up their MP3s and webpages at home. Well we have a new offering www.mythtv.org. So we buy a nifty TV tuner card, and throw a few RPM's onto our kernels. Boom. We can now do TIVO. Obviously its got its ups and downs. It will take some playing with, and probably 300 bucks worth of equipment on top of your linux box you already should have. BUT TIVO requires you to pay a fee for their service. Doesnt that suck?! Go and get your linux box, plop it down next too your tv, and start recording now!
posted by Bryan at 6/10/2003 01:38:00 PM