After many experiences, I have to tell anyone who asks me naively for the number of a trustworthy computer equipment dealer that such an animal, like a fairy godmother, exists only in fairy tales and Shrek movies.

Setting aside the previous experiences where one computer shop named after a popular search engine decided to solve my hardware problems using a hammer and taking every single component out and then reassembling my PC and then "forgot" to put back several important components such as my firewire card and LAN card. As it were, when I received my poor little PC back, I was shocked by the dents and shoddy welding done to hold the poor casing together from the back after it had been forced to open from areas that are not meant to be opened. Once home and over the shock, I noticed several key ports missing from the back, which led to an angry march with list of serial numbers of each component and an insistence that they find the hardware item matching each serial number. Never use a computer shop owner by some idiot who has no idea what his engineers get upto in their dark, dingy workshops upstairs.

After this, I decided to seek the help of one of the computer lab technicians at my university. Having known them for several years now, I figured they'd be the ones to trust with my poor, injured, bruised PC. Bad idea. Said technician took the PC to a place where he works after university hours and after much pestering, tells me the motherboard is shot and I should just buy a new PC altogether. After much arguing back and forth and insistence that I am not in the market for a new PC, I just want the old one fixed and working, the man grudgingly admits that a new chipset motherboard could do the trick. As his encore for this proclamation, he disappears. Literally. Anytime I visit the labs to find him, the man seems to be out. Anyone I ask about his whereabouts is vague and noncommittal. Finally, he is tracked down having a really long tea break in a room somewhere. After which I obtain my PC and run home muttering soothing phrases about never letting it out of my sight again.

Recently, it is the day of a strike. One computer shop in Khadda market appears to be open and I pop in for a little Q&A about their printers, which I desperately need to purchase. Turns out they have only Epson printers, but are offering a fair price for one. I pester aunt to fund my persuits and I head home happily with a supposedly sealed box containing a printer. Once home, it is discovered that the printer kit does not include a parallel cord, without which I cannot connect it to my PC. What good is a printer that cannot be connected to a PC, I fume and repeat this sentiment to shopowner over the phone. He states that his brother, who is the "technical one" will be back soon as he is "mobile" at the moment. Mightily pissed, I grab the whole box, styrofoam and all, an storm over to the shop and demand an explanation for the missing cable. "Technical" brother shows up and tells me no printer has an LPT1 cord included and has the gall to insist on charging extra for said cable. I let him know exactly what I think of him and storm out with said cable. Now, after initially working great, printer is refusing to print anything but garbage values. My personal suspicion falls upon the cable so today I must return to the shop for the third time to tell them what I think of them. Bah.