What a Dilemma

The Touch Screen Dilemma


June 9, 2011

I typically hate shopping. You will never find me browsing in stores, trying on endless different outfits or mulling over dinnerware patterns. If I need something, I go to the store I believe most likely to have it, pick it up, pay for it and leave as quickly as I can. Even better, I fire up the old laptop and order it from the comfort of my own home (or, as sometimes is the case, my desk during a break). Take me shopping and you’ll soon find yourself with a 48-year-old 3-year-old whining to go home. There’s no price comparing at sixteen different stores. It’s more like: This one will do. And, oddly enough, I’m usually quite happy with what I take out of the box when I get home or it arrives.

When I bought my house, I had to make some sacrifices. One of those was our digital camera. In all fairness, Dave had paid for it and so it remained behind with a “his” sticky note on it so it wouldn’t inadvertently get packed and moved. That left me without one and, while I never fancied myself as much of a photographer, I quickly came to miss having the option to at least point and shoot. The lack of a camera really hit home when my girlfriends from Chilliwack came to visit. So, on Saturday morning, I added a stop at Mike’s Audio/Video to the list of things to do with my friends and came home with a shiny new Cannon Power Shot. I even paid extra for a touch screen.

When a pee break became necessary, we dashed home and I took the opportunity to charge the battery pack so I could begin using my new toy. We continued scratching items off our to-do list and returned a while later to discover that the battery pack was fully charged and my Power Shot was ready to go. So, I took a video of my friends. Then we went to the pub, but the camera had to stay home. Then we came back and played a rather imaginative game of lawn darts and Power Shotted a swack of stills. I decided that I liked the camera a lot and named him Snoopy.



It’s now Thursday and I have taken a few more photos, mostly to use on my blog since then. Five days have passed since I agreed to pay more for a touch screen. Five. One hundred twenty hours and a bit. Nearly a whole week. And tonight while I was snapping shots of the renovation and repair work that is being done in my house, it hits me: Snoopy does not have a touch screen. Snoopy has a lot of buttons, but he does not have a touch screen.



Clearly not a touch screen



So, new dilemma. Do I take Snoopy back and demand a refund? Do I keep Snoopy and just ask for the difference back? Do I just suck it up and live with my own lack of diligence? It’s really hard to return something when it has a name, particularly when its name is Snoopy? It doesn’t seem right? It’s only $20 after all.



It occurs to me that with all the talk – at least three minutes in the store – about touch screens, that may not have been the option that I opted for. I may have paid extra for the rechargeable battery pack instead. In fact the more I think about it, the more reasonable that sounds. I recall saying something about being baffled by touch screens...



So, another new dilemma. Do I risk making a fool of myself by going back to the store and asking? Or do I give myself time to convince myself that I paid for the rechargeable battery pack and not the touch screen? Or do I make a discreet inquiry for clarification purposes and accept whatever I’m told, because, honestly, I’m now so befuddled about the whole issue that I’m thinking that it might not shed too good a light on me to bring it up at all. “’Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Snoopy is well mannered and easy to handle. He takes pretty decent pictures and downloading them to my laptop is barely a challenge with the slick interface he came with. And I’ve already designed a knitted camera case for him.



Okay, I’ll keep him. I will make the discreet inquiry; something like, “So how much was that other camera I was looking at with the touch screen again?” And the clerk will say, “Oh, that was a blah, blah, blah. I’m sure you’ll prefer the rechargeable battery on your Power Shot to a touch screen anyway.” And I’ll smile and say, “Yes, I think you’re right. Thank you,” ending all camera-related dilemmas.

If, by chance, the clerk says that I bought the touch screen, I’ll whip Snoopy out as evidence that I most certainly did not, proffer the bill of sale and say, “Then I think a refund for the difference is in order.” The then sheepish clerk will happily credit my credit card with the difference while apologizing profusely for his error. And I will thank him and wish him a good day, likewise ending all camera-related dilemmas.

My new pal Snoopy!  Even without a touch screen, he's cute as a button.