Monday, June 29, 2009

More adventures in retail

They frantically gather around for the sixth time in ten minutes, discussing something in fierce tones which I cannot hear. Eventually, one of them comes back to me and I half expect him to say, “Well, we haven’t got your order but we’re this close to bring peace to the Middle East.”

Actually, what he said that after three attempts to buy a flash for my camera I had yet again been thwarted. I go to argue my case but soon I realise that I’m outclassed by these battle hardened BAT (Blame Avoidance Techniques) practitioners. One then goes into a long, I suspect mainly fictitious account of how many order lacked.........and so........warehouse........ at this point I tuned out the noise and decided that life is too short to listen to this crap.

So leaving Plaisio after three unsuccessful attempts I decided to try my luck elsewhere, not realising that it is easier in this city to buy heroin than it is camera accessories.

The next few places I tried did not have any flashes either and indeed the salesman in one large electronics store, surrounded by cameras, lenses and tripods looked at me quizzically, trying to figure where on earth I had got the idea that his department had such an item.

Of course what I should have done is go to a shop selling just cameras and the like but I am wary of such places as unless you know exactly what you want the BS factor tends to balloon out of control within a matter of minutes.

I did eventually find a couple of places flashes but at prices way beyond my budget. Interestingly, no matter where I went the prices were always exactly the same. The kind of free market that would make any Soviet trained economist go moist eyed with nostalgia.

2 comments:

surfmadpig said...

of course you can't go to plaisio for camera accessories. they're a computer supermarket! i like them tho, they have good support and service for their products. i miss them here in the UK. you can't find spare parts for ANYTHING custom-made here. but anyway, http://www.kochelakis.gr next time you need anything for your camera. they know their photography.

teacher dude said...

Actually, they do sell camera accessories and had by far the best prices but I draw the line at having to go there four times and waiting five days or an item they advertise in their brochures.

Thanks for the tip.