Chain lifting - Accomodating resistence at its finest part 1

So I finally decided this past Monday that it was a good time to get some chains. Heard of a nearby place that sells all kinds of different hardware and at a reasonable price. To put it in perspective chains from a exercise equipment supplier have some crazy prices. Usually around 110-140 bucks for a pair of 20 pounds chains. Total weight at roughly 40-45lbs. So about $3 a pound. Kind of ridiculous. So I found McMaster Carr right down the highway in Aurora that has chains for dirt cheap compared to others. At about 9 bucks a foot I think I saved roughly 30 or more per pair with attachment chains and links included. So not a bad deal despite the complete utter cluster#$&@ that happened when I tried to order the damn things...

So heres the story-

I head out to Aurora around noon thinking I call them up and make the order, swing by play-it-again sports, and then come back to grab the chains. Seemed simple enough, right? Well it started that way. I make the call when Im about 15 minutes out and they inform me it will be about an hour to complete the order after I made it a point I AM ON MY WAY to come pick it up. So no worries. I'll get some shopping done and it'll be ready when I get around to them...WRONG. So a little over an hour passes by and I walk up, give them my info, and suddenly a puzzled look comes across the guys face.

"Hmmmm..."

Hm?

"Well it looks like your order was shipped." (Mind you it cost me about 10 bucks in gas to get there plus the tolls while shipping was somewhere around 90 dollars total so Im a little annoyed now).

"Hey it was supposed to be will call, man."

"Yea, Im not sure what happened. Well let me get you another order in and it should be ready in about 15 minutes"

So here I am thinking "great Im going to have 12 friggin chains when this is said and done and be about 600 in the hole. NOT what I was planning on.

"Ok. Yea they have the order so it should be out soon"

Alright. Whatever. I still have some time before practice. I can wait 15 minutes. So I shot some texts out to my athletes and let them know I was going to run a few minutes late but no big deal. Well except the man must've been on some seriously good medication as it took well over an hour and a half to get my new order ready. So not only do I still not have chains yet but practice AND the anticipated testing day is a complete wash. Its already 330 and Im still stuck in some massive warehouse the size of the IX center.

"Ok sorry about the wait you can head around back and pick them up."

Are you shitting me?? After all this they were around back?? For all I know they could have been ready for awhile but I was sitting up front waiting around with dumbass who doesn't understand how time works.

Alright, whatever, the day is already lost so lets make the most of it. I head around back. Grab the bucket of chain (which seemed kind of light for the listed 127lbs but I figured 'well I have been getting stronger') and was on my way.

Finally Im back in Brunswick. After a quick stop to Home Depot for the rest of the pieces I needed Im back in the high school weight room. Home sweet home.

Lets crack these babies open....

I pull two out and link em up to the bar. Bench a few times. All is well. Pull out two more, chain em up, bench a few more times. Feels good. So I reach in to grab the other two...remember when I said it felt light? There was only one chain left. I ordered 6 and was given 5. Alright now really? I was starting to feel a little better until this happened now I got 6 chains in the mail and 5 in front of me. Where do they hire these guys?

It gets better...

So I send them an email 'kindly' voicing my frustrations with the day thus far. Was responded later with "please use this shipping account to send them back and you be issued a full refund for the bad order". Ok well thats good to hear except I got to lug around a heavy ass bucket to UPS to send a bogus order back.

Then I noticed something-

The chains on the left side of the bar were grazing the ground like they are supposed to. The right side- hanging freely. I checked the links and they were even in height so wtf? Why is one higher than the other? I begin to take each chain off and lay them down next to each other....

AW SUNUVA $#%$^@#*$@#*%^#*($@($!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok so lets recap. Not only did they completely misunderstand "I am coming to pick them up DO NOT ship them", they have no idea how long it takes to cut chains and prepare an order, they can't count, and now apparently dont know how a tape measure functions. Its complicated stuff I am sure.

Heres the worst...maybe they just had their B-side working service that morning. Maybe it was just because it was Monday and McMaster pulled their complimentary employee coffee. Maybe the company Cinco De Mayo party just royally screwed up their staff so bad that they were still recovering until Tuesday and therefore normal human functioning on any sort of intelligent level just ceased to be. Tequilas ridiculous.

I don't know.

What I do know is they still have a better location and way better prices than anyone else. So what does this mean? Well like Jim Carey said in Liar Liar - "Guess Ill just piss and moan like an incompetent prick!"

No, seriously, thats about the whole point of this post. Have a good weekend!