Worst Buy

I have spoken to some pleasant people at Best Buy today, and to some equally pleasant people on the helpline for ASUS computers, in my attempts to get our new laptop fixed at no cost to us BECAUSE IT IS STILL UNDER WARRANTY AND WE HAVE A FULL SERVICE CONTRACT ON IT.  And yet, try as I might, I have not found a way of achieving a repair without spending at least $50, either to ship the damn thing back to the manufacturer (Best Buy won't do it for me) or to buy a set of recovery discs (not provided by the manufacturer when we bought the computer, and not held by Best Buy for the repair of broken computers they are contracted to service). 

So, you can imagine, I have spoken rather harshly to these pleasant people (acknowledging, even as my voice rose, that I wasn't blaming them personally, but their hopeless employers).  The pleasant people replied calmly, pleasantly...almost as if they have had to deal with angry, frustrated customers many, many times before.

Ngggrh.