Want to buy a bridge?

So a closely guarded secret in the Tennyson household is that Ken is fairly insufficient in the area of bargaining. Now this may come as a surprise, given his reputation for cleverness, wit, and brashness! The dark truth is that he has an uncanny ability to trust the slickest, most manipulative, and downright evil hawkers. One could argue that a willingly naive outlook on human nature, coupled with a positive view of the potential of all human beings, would justifiably result in such a state. My wife just takes the credit cards away...

So, given my keenly developed bartering skills, I descended into the infinite jungle of electronic shops that are on every corner in Singapore. My first goal was a 2nd battery as I have been quickly depleting my first one. I entered a shop covered in signs for Canon, Sony, Nikon, with a sense of smugness that indeed, this was my time to shine! In short order I walked out of the shop with the battery I had sought, a telephoto lens and adapter, and an ORIGINAL Canon camera bag thrown in to boot! All for the paltry price of US $300. When I got back to my hotel I thought I should check online for comparison prices (always a good thing to do AFTER you purchase...) to see just how good I did. The results were certain to be good, as I talked them down from $450 US, not an endeavor for the weak or faint of heart!

Much to my terrible surprise, I found that the telephoto lens was a poor quality lens that could be bought for less than $50 in the states! Perhaps I should have noticed the lack of Canon or any recognizable name brand on the lens... Indeed, the package including the battery, lens, and "original Canon" camera bag was worth $100 at best. Hmmm, the dark curtain descends.

Determined to rectify the situation I returned two days later, justifiably outraged and armed with copious amounts of knowledge regarding the prices of cheap spin-off Camera parts in Asia. In short order I threatened to contact the US embassy, the Singapore consumer association, and my credit card company. The now reticent salesman realized his mistake and after consultation advised me that his store does not accept returns and I had signed for the merchandise! Damn!

So, I now sit looking at a poor quality "GroBartig" tele lens that was apparently worth more than many digital cameras. Indeed, I shall not even share a subsequent triumph in which I shrewdly bartered for a 1 Gig memory card for my camera, having done my price comparison prior to shopping, only to find that a day later it conveniently has quit working. I would try to return it but I don't want to embarrass Singapore salesperson's any more than I already have. If anyone has heard of A DATA memory company, they owe me a CF flash card that works!

Signing off for a day of shopping,
Ken