So from the “interesting” category… I go into a California Micro Center today to pick up a notebook for a co-worker, nothing too odd about that right – the odd part was what happened next.

As I made my way to the systems department, I could not help but notice that the whole area of display PCs looked picked over and rather void, kind of trashy actually. This was the case in both the desktop and laptop displays.

A sales person in the systems area acknowledged me and said he’d be back in a minute after helping another patron. Since they were standing within earshot I could not help but listen to the conversation, in which the sales guy said he really did not have any computers to sell him as they were waiting for Vista to come out before restocking.

The customer was a bit disappointed, he was not looking for a Vista computer, he just needed a system for home. The salesman told him there was nothing he could and he should just wait a week to buy a system.

After that he came over to help me and cautioned at the beginning of the conversation that today (really the next week, till January 30) was a bad day to buy a computer. When I told him this was for business and I wanted to run XP Pro anyhow, he looked at me and said “Really?”

We were able to find one of the last two notebooks in stock that met my needs, picked it up and headed to check out.  At checkout the store manager came over to do the customary, “Thank you for buying a computer from us” speech (a nice touch at Micro Center), during this he was also surprised I was buying today and not waiting till Vista. He went on to devolve that they had over 100 notebooks alone in the back that they could not sell till the Vista launch.

As I finished the check out and walked to the car, I couldn’t help but think what an odd experience? A sales organization comfortable sending customers away empty handed when they wanted make a purchase. Wonder what kind of new system sales we are going to see on launch day?