I think I might actually be a grown-up now. This is such an astonishing revelation that it bears sharing here on the blog.
It started, as it usually does, with a fit of covetousness. I have an iPhone 3GS. I’ve had it for about a year and a half, since the eve of the release of the iPhone 4. I’ve always been rather proud of my thriftiness, buying the newly-reduced 3GS instead of the hot new toy. Never mind the fact that the iPhone itself is a mad indulgence.
At the time, I had no idea how deeply attached to the iPhone I would become. I call it my umbilical cord, and I have it with me always. I find myself using it to check Twitter while waiting in long queues at the grocery store, checking the weather sitting in the Timmies drive-thru on the way to work, and most sweetly indulgent of all, checking my e-mail in the morning before I even part the flannel sheets to let in the cold of a fresh new day.
I was perfectly content with my vaguely antiquated 3GS until several factors came together recently, launching me down the garden path to coveting an upgrade. Getty on Flickr started soliciting iPhone pictures, which reminded me to start taking pictures with it, and I rediscovered the fact that although they don’t compare in quality to the pictures I take with the Nikon, they do have a certain quirky appeal.
Then my friend Steve told me that his new iPhone 4S had an 8 megapixel camera (mine is a meagre 3 megapixels) and showed me some of the incredible high resolution and low-light stills and video he had taken. *drool* And Beloved mentioned his five year old Krazr (barely beyond a rotary-dial phone by today’s standards) was no longer properly holding a charge.
Given that I still have a contract with Telus, it seemed like a brilliant plan on my part to give Beloved the 3GS and get a 4S for myself. Over several conversations with Beloved, we evolved from him having zero interest in having his own iPhone to a sort of capitulation that yes, since the cost of the plan would be more or less the same and since his phone was becoming rather useless, in theory it may be feasible to consider upgrading my phone and having him use the old one, at some unspecified future date. He may have been agreeing in principal, but it was all I needed to write a contract in blood.
Poor Beloved.
Which is how I found myself spending the best part of an afternoon trying to wrangle a deal with first Telus, then Rogers, and getting myself increasingly tangled up in various plans and options. I was brazen in my negotiations, which were flatly declined by Telus. I had better luck with Rogers, though, and when we were suddenly looking at not only two iPhones and a shared data plan but a sweet incentive plan that included a ridiculously discounted Galaxy Tablet, Beloved was suddenly leading the charge for the acquisition of the new iPhone and plan with Rogers. The only fly in the ointment was the pesky factor of that contract with Telus and the $$$ I’d have to fork out to break the contract.
I could sense a long afternoon of horse-trading and hold music coming to fruition when the salesperson came back on the line with bad news — the online call centre didn’t actually have any iPhone 4S in stock. The salesperson told me that a bricks-and-mortar Rogers location could offer me a similar deal, though, and said although she regretted losing the sale (she’d at that point invested nearly an hour with me) I’d get a better deal with them.
So caught up in the frenzy of deal-making, plan breaking and instant gratification were we by that point that Beloved encouraged me to go now, RIGHT NOW!!, to the nearest Rogers store to ink the deal. Dinner? Schminner! Pick something up for us on the way home with my new tablet!
It’s at this point that I have to say I’m grateful there isn’t a Rogers outlet in Manotick. I hadn’t even made it as far as Rideau Valley Drive on my way to Barrhaven when the adrenaline subsided enough for me to see the ridiculousness of my mission. Nothing was on sale or time limited. We ought to consider our options a bit more clearly before proceeding. If we signed on to a Rogers family plan, we’d need to pay out the contract penalty with Telus, but the longer we waited the less the penalty would be. Maybe the iPhone 4S will go on sale when they finally get around to announcing the long-anticipated iPhone 5. Maybe we could just get the iPhone 4S straight up from Rogers without the family plan and work things out so they swapped the phone numbers. At the very least, we could wait until the weekend. I don’t need the new phone TODAY. I actually don’t *need* the phone in any way, shape or form, but I had worked myself up to an absolute lather of covetousness.
I was actually kind of relieved when I turned and headed to our local sub shop to pick up some dinner. This may be the first time ever that I’ve managed to pull myself out of a consumeristic frenzy of instant gratification. Other similar scenarios have ended in the acquisition of, off the top of my head, our first DSLR, my original iPhone, and our newest laptop.
I am ridiculously proud of this highwater mark in my life, an obvious truimph of reason over impetuousness. I think I’ve shown an exemplary amount of maturity. Apparently it *is* possible to resist the siren-song of instant gratification. Who knew?!
So proud of myself was I, I forgot to consider one important factor. Poor Beloved was crushed when I came through the door carrying only dinner. He was looking forward to playing with his shiny new toys tonight.
These days I am the opposite and it drives me nuts. We have been trying to save money to pay off debt and I second guess every single purchase often to the point where we don’t buy anything at all. It is good because it is helping, but I annoy myself. And I am looking forward to the day I can buy something on impulse again.
Hi Dani. Your friend “Steve” says you should drop everything and run to the Rideau Centre and get your iPhoe 4s now. Two of them. Do it. Now!
To use an overused phrase, OMG, I’ve found myself in this scenario so many times. Put so much time into researching a purchase, travelled down many paths I never even considered, and then feel determined that I MUST BUY THIS NOW OR ELSE. But, it’s amazing how often I fail to ask myself ‘ Or else, what?’ Maybe it’s the busyness of momness, that it drives me to feel the need to CHECK THIS ITEM OFF THE TO-DO LIST IMMEDIATELY. Pause. Take a breath. Sleep on it. Or, at least, that’s what I try and remember!
I’m pretty sure my husband would have been crushed, as well.
But hooray for maturity!