"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
...


If you liked them (other than the stupid electrical setup), you could've
installed inline foot switches, the type that go right on the power
cords.


I hadn't thought of that one, but I accept that I was so ****ed off by
the apparant stupidity of the design that I just HAD to take those lamps
back to the store and was prepared to "go ballistic" if they had given
me any static about the return. I felt much better when they didn't.

We're flooded in crap lamps at the moment. I was at Lowe's about a month
ago, and they had a nice looking floor lamp on display, with some sort of
energy saving fluorescent bulb. But, the thing didn't work. A highly trained
sales associate looked at the bulb designation and brought a new one back
from the light bulb section. It didn't work. There were two other models in
different colors. We tried new bulbs in those, too, with no success.
Finally, I got the manager over. He explained that these lamps were "funny".
They worked fine with the bulbs included in the box, but not with
replacement bulbs which were made by G.E., who also made the originals. I
asked him why they were selling lamps which would probably become useless
after the bulbs burnt out. He said G.E. would "probably get to the bottom of
the problem at some point".

Remember how Moe used to slap Larry and Curly simultaneously in the 3
Stooges movies? I was so tempted at that moment..... :-)