On 30/04/2014 18:21, Gareth Magennis wrote:

In the UK we have a chain of shops called Maplin, which sells electronic
goods and components.
I detest having to go there, because it is full of expensive crap, and
worse, the staff have no clue what they are talking about yet pretend
they do.

Here's todays example, which came about because I had forgotten my
glasses and couldn't read the catalogue to find the correct part numbers:


Hi, can I have 2 5mm white LED's, and 2 standard 5mm green LED's please.

What voltage are you running them from?

Er, I don't care about that, I just need 2 white LEDs and 2 green ones.

Well, we have these high intensity white ones, they run on 4.2 volts.
If you run them higher than that they could pop.

Er, I'll have 2 of those please.

Oh, we seem to be out of stock of those. We have some superbright ones,
they run on 3.6 volts, which is lower. You might have to watch your
voltage.

Er, OK, I'll have 2 of those please.

We have these green ones, and they run at, oh, 2.2 volts, that's much
lower.

Er, OK, I'll have 2 of those as well.

Would you like some resistors with those?

Er, no thanks, just the LED's.


I should have said yes, and found out how he was going to try and
calculate the resistor values required.



Those 4 LED's cost me £4.60.


That's why I detest Maplin.



Gareth.

I only go into my local Bevois Valley , Southampton one perhaps 3 or 4
times a year, (last week for a micro SD ). So I can monitor how much the
floor is sagging at the entrance. You now tend to trip over the edge of
the sag as it is so deep. They will be stung sometime soon by a large
compo claim when a 25 stone customer falls through the floor. There may
even be a large cavern under the shop. The road outside has to be closed
every ten years or so as a large and deep hole appears in the road. Only
sand geology underneath and an underground watercourse and heavy rains
wash the sand away.
Oddly they took over an earlier electronics shop called Valley Radio .