An example is the " pretty" I bought today with my nifty Walmart gift card. A stain glass peace dove on a pewter-ish chain. So darned pretty I wanted to take a picture of it and post it on my blog for all to see and marvel. But you see my camera has been displaying inexplicable problems, not the smallest being that apparently it uses up most of the " juice" in a new camera battery in simply starting up and possibly taking one photo. Bear in mind, camera batteries cost an arm , a leg, and couple neck freckles.Obviously technology is way too complex for a simple ordinary consumer like myself, that does not hold a degree in computer science and/or electronics and if I did it would have been obsolute by last Wednesday. But it seems that nobody , not even the experts, seem to know why all of our
In " the old days" if you bought something, you had the right, as a consumer, to expect your product to work and to last a certain amount of time. You kept the receipt , and if it didn't work, you simply brought it back. And if the clerk at the store thought you were too stupid to use whatever you bought, she never said a word, because the customer was always right. I miss those days sometimes. Because now, we can't even be sure if the electronic whatchamacallit that we bought is actually broken or if we accidentally did something to it, to make it work, or worse, if it was simply expected to break down at a certain time ( possibly programmed to do so) so that we were supposed to go out and buy a bigger , better, shinier gadget that we also have no idea how to operate. Or maybe we put the wrong battery into it, or put the battery in upside down ( we are so advanced but apparently not one camera manufacturer has ever thought to put the words " put this end in first" on a battery)
Now this camera probably has a warranty which most likely ran out within two weeks of buying the thing, because I had neglected to " register" the camera online. ( I have all sorts of stuff on my brand new computer, that don't work because I have no idea HOW to register the programs, or where the heck is the disk, with some magical group of numbers, that would convince the company that yes, I should be able to actually USE the program I bought and paid for) I have to tell you that registering anything online, gives me bouts of anxiety and possibly hives from the stress. Nothing is ever simple. Ever.
And service? I remember that. When you could expect a company to stand behind it's product, and to actually want to HELP you use it properly, instead of advising you to google the " issue" or join a forum about all the issues of said product. If you actually talk to a real person about your (broken?) camera or dead battery that you paid freaking-twenty-bucks for, you can almost hear them shrug and say something like " Yeah they do that." And then they put you on hold while they go out and have a smoke and text sixteen of their closest friends, and then come back to tell you that you should have registered your camera or possibly you are not being truthful ( did you possibly bash camera against the wall in a fit of frustration?) Bear in mind, I have reached the age where it really BUGS me when a young person who probably graduated from high school two weeks ago, uses that tone that says " You are a retard but my boss doesn't allow me to tell you that")
What I really would like to do , is take the camera to a store, hand it to the clerk, tell her " It doesn't work" and either get my money back or be shown ( patiently!) how to fix and/or use the thing. And possibly be given several thousand dollars for my pain and suffering, and lack of cute grandchild photos. And maybe an itty bitty apology for the company selling me a crappy gizmo.
So my camera doesn't work. At all. Not having a working camera in our day and age, is only one step down from not having a cell phone. ( or having one and not activating it because you know it will drive you crazy and break down, five minutes after you put mega money into buying minutes- in the old days we never ever had to BUY minutes for anything) But hey, I talked to a gal about my age today, and she told me that she has decided she has enough frustration in her life, that she elected to put her ancient computer in a shed and refuses to get a new one or go on the internet or sign up for facebook. I commiserated with her and admired her strength of character in such an action. Then I asked her if she ever got photos of her new grandbaby. Upon which she informed me that apparently nobody sends REAL photographs anymore, that they post them on Facebook and expect you to go from there.I assumed the parents of her grandbaby are fairly proficient in the use of a computer and the internet, because they are , after all, a product of the New Millenium, and not only do they THINK they know more than us, but they actually DO know more than us. In fact, a 9 year old child of this generation could probably fix my camera.
Anyways that is my rant for the night. I am hoping that James refrains from asking me " Why didn't you bring the camera?" when we next see any of our family. If he asks, I'll refer him to my blog. Then I'll lock myself in my room and watch reruns of the Waltons on the non modern tv I keep in my room for just such occasions.
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