Served Cold

Yesterday I posted about the plan to purchase a Canon camera. The idea is we will purchase a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera. If I get it right then it should be the last expensive camera we will purchase in our lifetime.

Our first camera was a Yashica SLR which I purchased in 1972 whilst in Singapore for 6 weeks. I’m a really bad photographer so was looking for a camera that would enable a “dolt” like me to take a reasonable photo. Cameras and electronics were in their infancy and the shop owner convinced me the Yashica, with it’s coloured indicator LED’s, would allow me to take great photo’s. He even managed to sell it to me at an inflated price.  Much to my chagrin the camera failed not long after I left Singapore. At the time we had been married less than a year and it had been a major financial purchase.

Eight years passed and we were transferred to Singapore for two years. During those two years I’d visit the shop that sold me the camera.  To my surprise the shop owner remembered me. Approximately every three months I’d walk into the shop and talk to him about all the purchases I intended to make during the remainder of our time in Singapore. His eyes would light up and he’d ask me what I wanted. I would walk around the shop pointing at HiFi systems, TV’s video recorders, golf clubs, etc. You could see him calculating the commission. During each visit he’d ask me when I was going to start buying and I’d tell him not until we are ready to return home so everything will be new.

At the end of our two years I was walking past his shop and he saw me. He rushed out grabbing my arm and pulled me into his shop. He told me I needed to purchase everything NOW if I was going to take it with me. My moment had arrived. I told him I had no intention of purchasing anything from him after he’s sold me the to over-priced dud Yashica in 1972.

Petty and spiteful of me, but revenge is a dish best served cold!