Tuesday, February 20, 2007

No I do not want to go and buy a new one at Aldi for $30, thank you very much...

So I finally remembered that the place I took my last laptop when the screen broke also seemed to have a suspicious amount of hifi equipment sitting round and rang them this morning. Sure enough, they were happy to take a look at my stuck CD player, which I took in at lunchtime.

The chap behind the counter looked a little surprised. "Oh! That's not what I imagined when you called up!" he says. Now I'm worried. "But you can still fix it, yes?" I implored.

"Well we can have a look at it for you." His brow suddenly wrinkled as he points at some round plug hole thingy in the back I've never noticed before. "Do you use this?"

Oh shit, I think. Obviously it's all my fault that the player jammed - I must have had it hooked up wrong for the past 12 years. "Err, no." I reply, my brow wrinkling in consternation to match his.

"Do you know you could go to Aldi and buy a DVD player for $30, hook it up here, play CDs on it and it would be cheaper than us looking at it for you?"

I sighed. He obviously believed I was slightly nuts (and he'd be right but how he worked it out so quickly is beyond me) "Look, I realise I could buy a Craponya CD player to replace this but I'd prefer to a) keep you lot in business and b) keep my most loved trusty $100 CD player out of the landfill even if it ends up costs me more."

He shrugged ever so slightly, obviously wondering why I would want my clunky old slightly scratched CD player rather than a bright shiny new one. But he took my $66 and said he'd call me when they'd had a chance to have a look at it.

And I walked out of the shop feeling ever so... old fashioned.

8 comments:

  1. Mate! I'm going through the same thing with my sewing machine, which blew up rather dramatically last weekend - I'd prefer to get it fixed...but if it ends up costing triple figures...I could probably get a 'new' second hand one on trademe...

    Meh. It sucks that it's so hard to get stuff fixed these days.

    BTW - Stink to hear you are in a creative slump - hopefully it's just end-of-summer blahness, and as the autumn comes you'll get inspired to knit yourself something yummy...

    When I'm feeling blah I go to the public library and lurk around the non-fiction arts and crafts shelves...looking for eye candy and ideas...

    another thing to do it to go on FLickr - find people's whose photos you like, then do a slideshow through THEIR flickr favourites - many delights come up that way.

    Anyway - hope bright sparks fly in your brain soon!
    Helen

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  2. Ha! I can tell you've never visited the ACT Library Service! (Opps, shouldn't have said that - this is a small town at heart)

    Now I'm homesick for Wellington Public Library, full of wonderful new books and the latest edition European magazines... Great spaces for settling in for a big readathon and a wonderfull cafe for when you get peckish. Sigh...

    Alas I have many ideas. Too many, possibly as whenever I enter my hobby room I sort of sigh, say "so much to do" (or similar) and shuffle out again after moving maybe 5 things back to where they belong.

    I'm suspecting when I have music upstairs again I'll want to hang round more. Not that this theory holds any water when I realise the Dinosaur hoodie is actually downstairs, next to the sofa, the tettering pile of magazines waiting to be read and a fully operational CD player.

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  3. I understand the CD-player-that-does-the-job-and-I-don't-want-to-part-with-it thing. My old 15-year CD player (did we have CDs 15 years ago? I can't remember) plays anything: any burnt CD, any format, any origin. And has outlived everything that came after it. Reliability! That's what I like.

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  4. Do you count? And do you count after I bribe you with alcohol at 641.21?

    ;-)

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  5. see I told you they said that to me about the camera, surely soon someone will pay you to get things fixed to stop landfill? and these young assistants just don't get it *at all* do they? duh duh duh

    thanks for the book tips, hmmm didn't know some of those little beauties, I replied in my comments box should you be at least interested

    very old fashioned, fixing something...nah why would you wanna do that...er to save the planet duh

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  6. oh yep I would definitely love those mags and those books (oh and the cooking one you mentioned a month or so ago) but wouldn't the postage be massive - tho hubby will be in Canberra soon again oh and we are coming again with mum at Easter so thats an idea

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  7. Sad to say, I count very little, but I do care. You could try bribing me ;)

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