8. O2 (Negative)

Damn O2 and their annoying damn ways.

My dad's a staunch O2 customer. So we have one of those HSDPA modems ('cos we can't get any other internet) and I said maybe I should get one for around college instead of using unsecured wireless networks. He agreed, so today we went to the O2 Store to get one.

So I get in there, and the sales assistant says I need my student ID and my CAO letter.
I produce both.
She says, hang on, your address isn't on this letter.
I say, so?
She says, it needs to be addressed to you at home.
I say, fine.
So I root around for a few minutes and found an addressed bank letter.
Wait in line, because now someone is ahead of me, for twenty minutes.
Get to the counter again. Give her the stuff, all pleased 'cos I've found the letter.
Oh, wait, she says.
I ask what the problem is.
Our photocopier is broken, so you'll have to come back another day, she says.

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?

Anyway, it's annoying but I'm heading back to college, which means Limerick, so I still have a chance.

Get to the O2 Store there.
All goes well this time (photocopier working, yay!).
This sales assistant directs me to a seat and commences asking me questions which she fills into a lengthy form on her PC.
The usual stuff.
Name, address, birthday, etc.
So I'm pretty pleased that it's all worked out, and then she clicks 'Submit' on the form.
I see the error but can't read it.
Oh, she says.
She looks at the form.
Asks me my birthday again.
I tell her, again.
She says, oh.
Oh my God, she says. You're not eighteen yet?
I'm so sick of this. Every damn time.
No, I'm not, I say.
Well, you can't have the modem if you're not eighteen, she says.
I ask why not.
The answer has something to do with contracts. Seems you can borrow money with a guarantor at any age (that's also a contract), but buy a crappy USB modem? No, sir. Have to have eighteen years of wasted time behind you.
Sigh.
So then Dad says, can we put it on his account?
She says, sure. We'll need ID from you.
Of course he has no ID.
So that was that.
Have to wait all that extra time now, because they weren't clear enough about the terms of the contract.

Sigh.

Update: Turns out I couldn't get it even if he paid for it because I still wasn't 18. I finally got it because they had a meeting and realised it was a retarded way to do things. So I guess that's pretty good. But I still don't like them.