Shopping For A Receiver Is Far From Easy.

Where are the good old days when a TV was all that was needed...

I thought that yesterday was the day to go and replace our defunct receiver because, yes, I am a tad bit addicted to watching TV. It was the first Saturday of the month and they had specials at Media Mart.

That was our first mistake. Specials that they have are never the items you want to buy. The second mistake was not to have a bite to eat first. Shopping on a reasonably empty stomach is not good. Men especially tend to lose patience at the drop of a hat or at having to wait a minute more...

Standing and watching the intricate business taking place in the TV & Entertainment section of this Mega store made me realize that they had deployed staff in all the wrong places. Coffee machines, hoovers and DVD's need no extra sales help but the TV area needs lots.

Buying a new TV is not like choosing a pair of jeans. No, the new technology has created a cloak and dagger mystery around the box and at prices that make you faint, you want a chunk of time from the expert salesman. No rush rush there...and that is why they should have more staff there.

By the way, have you noticed how much larger TV's have become? Good grief, are people upgrading to bigger homes in order to accommodate a TV the size of an entire wall? All very well having a wall that is a TV screen, but how far away does one need to sit in order to not get ' fried ' and more importantly see the whole picture without a sore neck?

Bob and I had to wait at the less important Sat-receiver shelf for a salesman. They had twenty models on display and of course no simple descriptions of them. Believe me, we had ample time to read each label in detail and more than once. We needed to wait for help.

Bob was getting grumpier and grumpier and paced up and down the aisle with gusto and at least got a workout. Now that I think of it, he should have gone two aisles to his left and tried out the massage chairs they have for sale... Prudently, I was on the edge of forgoing a weekend of TV, when finally a helpful young man came along to help, but even that went not so well as the subject of receivers with its various subscription options is far from easy.

After explaining the various in's and out's he went to help someone else and we were left to make a choice. Do you also feel stupid to ask the same question again because you don't get the technology? Or admitting that you can't afford the top of the range, which suspiciously is always the better option!

What it boils down to is that no one wants to looks ignorant in front of an expert! They should school these salesmen to use simple language that we can understand. Paradoxically, those that understand all the technological " mumbo jumbo ", eh, don't need a salesman to make their choice...

Oh yes, in the end we did choose the wrong receiver. When we got home, Bob connected the little box and to our dismay it seemed to have an aversion to English and American news. A life without Sky News / BBC and CNN is not for us...so we will take it back and repeat the process of finding the right one.

Biggi