At 19 minutes, I thought the phone call I had with Lenovo Customer Care in the US on Saturday was long and comprehensive and sympathetic to me.

That was before the phone call I had with Lenovo Customer Care today.

Not counting my multiple failed attempts to get through to the corporate escalation phone number I'd been given on Saturday (and specifically told to call today with specific menu items that didn't actually match any of the menu items at that phone number) or the time that I made it to a live person who transferred me out to a corporate escalation phone number that wasn't corporate or escalation, I was on the phone for 47 minutes.

End result, yes my laptop is under warranty. An international warranty. Which covers drops and spills. Which covers China. Which covers drops and spills in China.

I've got a case number. I should be getting notified shortly about a replacement screen being ordered in advance to a location I haven't arrived at yet. And at some point they would very much like the WeChat chat logs I had with the China people even though the chat logs don't include the juicy bits like being accused of having a counterfeit laptop (or perhaps a counterfeit warranty) because I lacked a physical Chinese VAT receipt for an item purchased outside of China.

Even with close circuit cameras being older than I am, a common theme I've noticed with fools and idiots is failing to consider what their behavior will look like when the recordings are pulled up.

Maybe it's because I grew up a politician's kid but it seems obvious to me that if your words and actions are being recorded (with timestamps even) or could be recorded, you should behave not the way you want to towards the person who is being a thorn in your side but the way you want to be seen by potential future spectators. And yet, every day, people get caught doing the dumbest things on camera or putting the stupidest things down in writing.

I just don't get it.

Never will.

I slept in today. Probably could have forced myself to get up and stay up and get moving by noon if I'd tried hard. Did in fact manage to get out for lunch with the guy who invited Joe, Anna, Anna's son, and me to participate in the Round Wuyishan Road Race in 2009. Even stayed awake most of the afternoon after being stuffed full of food until I couldn't fit any more in.

However, separate from needing to call Lenovo, I have work for Corporate Client that is creeping towards its deadline and starting to bike so late in the day when I had a perfectly acceptable room (bed was a little on the hard side) for only 30元 seemed rather stupid. So I stayed in and worked instead.