We got us a chainsaw

Out here in the country, it's important to have all the appropriate accessories, and one of those is a chainsaw. Now, Pat and I have purchased chainsaws before, but those were wimpy things sold out of big-box stores, and they turned out to be worse than useless.

This time, we needed a big saw, one that could deal with the dying cottonwood tree in Albuquerqe. We had looked into having a tree service take it down, but it would have cost far more than we could afford. So Pat got a big ladder, and cut off as much of the upper part of the tree as he could, so now what's left is the trunk and a couple of big limbs. So Pat went out in search of a chainsaw.

First stop: the big-box stores. He got one of the bigger chainsaws the store had in stock. He opened up the box and began attempting to assemble it. He ran into problems and called the manufacturer's 800 number for help. He spent more than a half hour listening to the manufacturer's telephone system telling him his business was important to them, in between spates of elevator music. He went back to the big-box store and got a refund.

Then he went to two very small dealers of premium chainsaws, and he ended up getting a semi-professional quality saw, which the salesperson assembled and thoroughly tested before even running Pat's credit card through the reader. The salesperson gave Pat some instruction on how to use the chainsaw properly. And he walked out of the store, not with a box of parts, but with a fully functional chainsaw.

Sometimes, it's good to get a good price. Other times, it's good to get personal, professional service and a high quality product. You want a good chainsaw, you get what you pay for.