Virtual Unreality

Posted on 18th October 2026

Back in February 2000 I wanted to buy a SCSI card to fit into my PC. I searched the adverts in my latest copy of Micro Computer Mart for the particular type I wanted, and found just two dealers who listed it. The first one I rang apologised and said that they were no longer in stock, so I rang the other one; it was obviously a small place, more used to selling to the trade than to domestic buyers, but I foresaw no difficulties.

The woman who answered the phone was polite, friendly even, but was unable to tell me whether the one they were selling was the full retail version, something I wanted to be sure of, as it came with the necessary cables. However she was able to give me the phone number of their technical department, and I rang this. The man who answered was a genial-sounding fellow, and after I had explained my needs he obligingly went off to look before coming back and answering my question saying yes, it was indeed the retail version, he’d looked at the box and it said it contained the cables.

Pleased, I rang the sales number again to place an order. It was a man this time, and his accent made communication slightly difficult, but we eventually made ourselves understood to each other. There was a short pause, then he came back on the phone again and said that he could not place the order as they were out of stock.

I was taken aback, but had sufficient presence of mind to hastily explain the situation before he hung up; that I had already spoken to one of their staff who had actually held the said item in his very hands only a minute or so before. I conceded that there was a remote possibility that it had been sold in the last few seconds, but he could easily check. I could give him the number if necessary. However it was to no avail. He remained obdurate. I pleaded with him; I even offered to pay for it, but he was unmoved. He explained slowly to me, as to a person of reduced mental capacity, that it was irrelevant whether they actually had it in stock or not; it was impossible for him to place the order while the computer’s inventory showed there to be none. Could I not grasp this simple concept?

I was obliged to abandon the attempt. It was distressing for me, but I eventually found what I wanted at another dealer, who was able to satisfy my needs. The trauma eventually healed.

But in commemoration, every 23rd of February I pause and observe a minute’s silence for the Adaptec AVA-1505 ISA SCSI card which has a real existence but not a virtual one, and which is therefore presumably still sitting lonely and forgotten on a shelf, getting rather dusty by now, doomed never to be sold.

All I ask is that all of you who read this tragic tale do the same. There must be many other items of electrical or domestic goods in a similar situation – are they to be abandoned by an uncaring society? Please spare a thought for them.