Where in the world?

I’m not sure how I feel about PC World. This is a bit like the Tescoisation of Britain. I’m happy to have the benefit of a giant PC warehouse to browse on a slow Saturday afternoon dreaming of Macs, 23” displays, a fully integrated wireless home and gigantic leather office chairs … however it dislike the sheer brazen ‘we know all about PCs’ approach. Maybe this is deeply rooted in people with an IT-bent (myself included). When the tech support guy (typified so wonderfully in ‘The Office’) comes to call he’s invariably a he, is aloof (or painfully peculiar) and labourers over a problem that clearly would take him 2 minutes on his own PC. In PC World the staff are probably recruited from those ‘passionate about PCs’ and their remit is to tell the average Joe what £300 box they need and why. And then cross-sell them a printer, scanner, digital camera and laptop bag (for a desktop). For anyone with slightly more knowledge who’s probably got a Dell on their desk, because they saw it had acres more performance, the store is patronising and over-marketed. And that’s rich coming from Dell customers like myself who probably see 287 Dell adverts in their paper every day and another 456 on TV that evening. I think it’s because the temptation is always to provide the ‘we recommend’ or ‘PC World know best’ approach to service. That said, if you dodge the staff, spend a good time browsing their enviable product ranges and decide for yourself you’ll probably be happy. At least you didn’t have to wait-in for a delivery off the web that never arrived. Within minutes you’ve bought, are out of the store and are on the ring road. Just like Tescos.