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Always interested in offers/projects/new ideas. Eclectic experience in fields like: numerical computing; Python web; Java enterprise; functional languages; GPGPU; SQL databases; etc. Based in Santiago, Chile; telecommute worldwide. CV; email.

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Good Picture Framer in Santiago?

From: andrew cooke <andrew@...>

Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2012 18:23:27 -0300

Anyone know of one?

I used to use a small place near Yanez and Manuel Montt, but they closed.

I just tried Dorado, near Providencia and Almirante Pastene, and they were
awful - when I went o pick up the frame they said, in my hearing, that they
didn't have the the frame I asked for.  When I questioned them about it they
denied everything and said it would be ready in a couple of days.  And when it
was ready, of course, it wasn't in what I asked for (nor what I would have
changed to if they had simply been honest).

Again, to be completely clear: the people in Dorado lied directly to my face.

I know this is Chile and I am supposed to just accept the local culture etc
etc.  But sometimes, it would be cool if they didn't have to be lying shits
that don't give a fuck.

Andrew

What Makes it Worse

From: andrew cooke <andrew@...>

Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2012 18:31:04 -0300

Is that if I had been smarter, I could have made it work.

When I visited to pick up the frame the first time, I could have said "look,
if you don't have what I want, why not use XXX" instead of "did you just say
Q?"

Andrew

And...

From: andrew cooke <andrew@...>

Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2012 18:41:45 -0300

I know that they're not lying shits.  I know that I was too confrontational
when I visited the first time.

I'm aware of all this.  I live in it every day.  Often I get it right.

But sometimes it's just too much.

the picture framing guild

From: Stefan Wehner <stw671@...>

Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2012 08:24:37 -0400

Some years ago I had a small poster framed and a printed photography =
mounted in a shop on Manuel Montt just north of Avenida Providencia past =
the entrance to the shopping gallery. When it was time to pick it up I =
wasn't in town, so my girlfriend went back to the store twice and they =
kept brushing her off. It's one of here worse memories of Chile. When I =
finally went it was done and very much to my satisfaction. That's a very =
mixed review, I guess.

Stefan=20=

List of Problems

From: andrew cooke <andrew@...>

Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2012 17:13:55 -0300

I think we're talking about the same place!

Technically, the work is fine, but it's simply not what I wanted:

 - The frame of one picture is completely different from expected
   (2 or 3 times wider - completely changes the style from a simple 
   wooden border to something heavy and formal - looks like it 
   should be hanging in a company boardroom).

 - The glass of another picture is non-reflective, when I asked for
   normal glass (non-reflective makes things fuzzy - I distinctly 
   remember the conversation specifying this, since "nitido" is a 
   fairly new word for me!)

 - The mat (passepartout) is embossed (this one I don't mind, but
   I would have preferred without).

But, more than that, they directly lied to me.  Not the usual "well that's
what I hope" that you are used to living in Chile, but a factual denial of
what was said a moment earlier.  A complete, blatant, out-and-out, 
bare-faced, how-mad-can-I-get fucking lie.

Anyway, a friend has recommended a place up on Providencia near the Casa
Amarilla (near Luis Ojeda).  I may try to get some of the above fixed there 
(I paid and left at Dorado - life is too short...).

Hope all is OK in NY!  Winter is coming....

Andrew

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