Saturday, August 27, 2011

Pass the Blunders Please!

 

It’s a funny thing how some seasons of our lives are relatively peaceful and then there are those where everything goes wonky in our world.
I’m in one of those wonky seasons where I keep committing blunder after blunder.

 It all started with the purchase of a new camera. You see I enrolled in a Digital Photography class, but after enrolling I thought to myself, “you don’t even own a digital camera…at least not an SLR, which is what I needed for the class.

 I debated for a long while as to whether I should drop the class since this isn’t exactly a good time to be spending extra money. What with hubby being laid off and all. But in the end I decided this was something I’ve wanted to do since high school, some thirty years ago.

 So, I did a wee bit of research to find the perfect camera. Oi! I can be so impatient when it comes to things like this and I often pay the price in the end, which is exactly what happened…Blunders, blunders, blunders!!

blunder1PAYING CASH…

Not wanting to end up with a balance on the credit card, I decided to raid funds from my “Vintage Airstream Account.” So, one bright Thursday morning I skipped off to the bank and pulled out said moneys.
Being the impatient little thing that I am I immediately headed to my favorite electronics store…whose name shall remain unspoken.

blunder2SETTLING FOR LESS THEN WHAT I WANTED…

I looked over some of the more popular brands and decided on a certain one, but all the while I was wanting something else…a brand new Pentax. Why in the world is it difficult to find a brand new Pentax that you can actually hold in your hands? It’s beyond me. Anywho, like I said before, I’m an impatient little thing and settled for less then what I wanted.

Later that afternoon I headed to Disneyland to try out my new toy, but alas, I couldn’t get one good shot from it and left disappointed. I have to admit that the cameras today are much more complicated then they used to be, but could I really be that bad of a photographer? Not one good shot out of 50!!

blunder3NOT KNOWING THE RETURN POLICY…

I don’t like admitting when I make such HUGE blunders, but I knew I wasn’t going to happy with this camera, so 28 hours after buying it I took it back. Who would have thought that it would turn into such a blunder? Not me.

The first thing that happened was a sales clerk came over and unpacked the entire thing and started questioning me about what was wrong with it, why didn’t I like it, maybe it was just me and not the camera. Feeling frustrated all I could say was, “the thing wouldn’t focus and all the pictures were blurry.” All I wanted was my money back…no big deal right? WRONG!!!

blunder4SPENDING TOO MUCH CASH MEANS YOU HAVE TO WAIT TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK.

This to me was the most frustrating!!! If you remember Blunder #1…paying cash is not always the best thing to do and since my camera cost me a wee bit over 500 I had to wait for the corporate office to send me a check…gggrrrhhhhh!!!
Hubby was becoming VERY FRUSTRATED and asked to speak to the manager, but when she turned over the receipt to show him the policy on cash purchases, he noticed a restocking fee of 15%. Blunder, Blunder, Blunder!!!! He decided that waiting for a check to come in the mail wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

blunder5IMPATEINCE DOES NOT PAY OFF!

In the end everything worked out just fine. I got ALL my money back (no restocking fee attached), I found a Pentax K-r that I’m perfectly in LOVE with, although I’ve barely figured out how to turn it on, and I learned some very good lessons through all my blunders.

OH! ANd if you’re in need a a few blunders yourself, I’d be happy to laon you some of mine…I’ve got plenty more Smile.

3 comments:

pam said...

I'm glad it worked out. I weary of the blurry facts that complicate things. Things are never as easy or stright forward as they should be. Have fun learning.

ellen b. said...

Oh girl! You have my head spinning. I'm glad things worked out and you made it through all the blunders!!!

Lynn said...

Cori,
In the end you did get what you wanted. See HE fixed it. Yes, paying cash should be the easy way. NOT as I all too well know. If we all went through life without blundering along a lot of the time, we would never learn a lot of what we do! My thoughts here, of course, since I do blunder about here and there! I retired a year ago, my hubby gave me a Nikon D5000 which I totally love to pieces. Can I use it as an SLR, nope not yet. Still use auto and play around with it and the thing is, I have always "seen" the finished picture in my head and then managed to capture it.
I am thrilled you were able to get the exact camera you wanted. Your roses in the post before this are just mind blowing beautiful to me.
Blessings to you and your hubby and enjoy your camera.
Lynn