Why I support Local Business”

Last night I returned from a mini-vacation over the hill to catch some sunshine and pool time with my kids.  I returned exhausted having driven too far, eaten too much and worked too little, and had a ton of computer work waiting for me.

As a tech-intensive family we have 9 computers for 5 family members.  In my opinion we could use more.  My personal favorite, my Mac-Book Pro laptop is my go-to device. (Until I scrape together enough cash for the new Apple laptop!)  It holds all my work, over 60,000 photos and most importantly, every episode of “The Office”.   All I wanted was to slip into bed with a hot cup of coffee and my laptop. (Hey - a girls gotta have vices!)

Comfy Jammies? Check!  Coffee?  Check!  Home made cookies baked by amazing daughter? Check! Trusty laptop? Check! All that’s left is to plug in the laptop and ............

no green light on my power cord.  Check connections.  Check outlet.  Unplug and re-plug connector cord.  Check new outlet. Plug and unplug repeatedly.  Tap on case and check for shorts.  Drag computer to bathroom and check outlet there.  Plug in radio to check outlet.  Unplug radio and plug in computer. Curse. Plug in extra battery.  Dead.  Curse. Eat cookie.  Look at clock - 5:45 on a Friday.  Curse again. Look for backup cable in “big box of miscellaneous cables in the garage”. Eat two cookies. Consider using G4 tower but Barry will kill me if I move it to the bedroom so I can eat cookies in bed. Curse.  Tell 7 year old that mommy is NOT using bad words and send her off to get more cookies.  Think. 

Grab phone and call nationally known retailer in Pacifica for help.  Recording. But hey - They “Truly value my business” except that part about being open on a Friday night.  Consider driving over the hill to Mega-fabulous Apple store that I just drove past an hour ago on my way home.  Think Local  Call Reece Computers.  Reach after hours answering service.  Sigh.  Ask about Saturday hours.  Hang up dejected.  Phone rings.  It’s Jon at Reece.  In the store.  Calling to see if he could help.  Explain situation.  Jon checks store for cable, but it’s not in stock.  Offers to check their computers for a loaner cable but uses a different version. My problem isn’t solved but I’m impressed.  He did everything short of offer to drive to Apple and get one himself. And he was friendly.  And smart.  Thank Jon - hang up.  Think again.

Why I support Local Business Part II

Call Alifano in Half Moon Bay.  By now it’s after 6pm on a Friday.  Rehearsing message to leave on recorder.  Allan answers.  In person.  Live and in the store.  Me - “I’ll bet you’re closed aren’t you?”  Allan - “That’s ok, I’m just here working.  Can I help you with something?”  Explain situation.  Read teeny tiny product number from base of cable.  Wait.  Allan - “No problem - I have one in stock.  Do you want to come down now?”  Do I?  Do I?  I hit the car so fast I almost didn’t remember to remove my fuzzy bunny slippers.  Ten minutes later I’m chatting technology with Allan, purchasing my cable, and making a mental list of other goodies they have that I want (500 gig portable drive, Flip Video with cool dock, etc. etc.) Thank Allan profusely.  Remember that three years ago when I was giving a community speech for Coastside Hope with 500 people in the audience and needed a dongle converter for our VGA projector at the last minute that Mike from Alifano, was the one who dug one up and ran it over to the IDES hall and saved the day.  Two for two.

Return home to find phone ringing. Terri Reece calling to see if she can help with my cable problem.  Have great conversation about how much I love local business, Ask her to thank Jon for being so helpful, and proceed to talk the poor woman’s ear off about the tech market.  Realize I really need to get out more often. 

I wanted to share this with the Coastsider community to bring home the message of why we need to support local business.  We’re a small community, we know each other, we help each other, and in a crunch, we come through for each other.

We only have four computers for the two of us. :)) Michael’s MACs & my PCs (we’re a mixed marriage). As far as Local Businesses go…this is just for starters:  I bought my laptop at Reece’s, had my desktop fixed at Alifano’s, and we got our DSL wi-fi for our new gallery location at 790 Main St. courtesy of Coastside.Net.  We haven’t tried Mike the Computer Guy (yet), but you never know….