Myths and Misconceptions of Technology

I am peculiar about the things I like and I know I am peculiar in some other ways, too, but I might talk about that at another time. The former peculiarity has it that I keep things as long as I can and then run constantly into trouble replacing them appropriately. Hence I fear the day when my thirty-year old road bike (which is now the merger of three bikes) will finally quit its services. But this is also not what I want to talk about today.

Brand loyalty is not for the meek

What I want to talk about was the recent loss of my 25-year old sunglasses and the ordeal and redemption that followed. Okay, so here is what happened: On a turbulent trail ride I managed to hold on to a bucking horse by sheer luck rather than any riding skills and in the process the glasses came off which I was not aware of at the time because I had other things on my mind, of course. Home we go and the damage becomes apparent. A search attempt the other day in the thick underweed proved futile. When I turned to the Internet to look for a replacement I knew I was in trouble. Although these were branded icon glasses and there were umpteen similar glasses available it seemed that the specific combination of frame, lenses and temples was not. What to do? I thought, I might ask an expert and go to an optician in the nearest mall. I entered the shop hoping they could at least give me advice on what to do. Before seeing any staff my eyes fell on a shelf full of xy glasses and soon I found one I liked, even if it was not quite the one I had lost. Up came an apprentice and I thought I was done soon. So I told him I would like to buy what I had found, only that I wanted different temples. He turned around without a word and headed to some of the senior staff at the opposite end of the shop. After a while he came back. “There is no such thing!” Nothing else. It sounded like a verdict. So I walked away with low spirits and as I passed another optician I decided only faintheartedly to try my luck again. The same procedure there: I found the shelf but I didn’t have time to look around much before a young lady came up to ask me what I wanted. As she received the answer “sunglasses” she asked me what I needed them for, leisure or sports or whatever, I couldn’t believe what I heard. Obviously she had good training and was really making an effort to get me what I could really use. But as my mind was set on that particular model I just told her the story of my loss and that I wanted an exact replacement. Again, I could barely believe what happened: She asked me to sit down at a table in a kind of department with two chairs and a little later she came back with the complete xy catalog. Then she explained to me that temples a came only with model b, instead of model c, which combination was the one I’ve had. But no problem, she said, they could order both models and change the temples, just as easy as that!

To cut it short right here: I found my glasses again, canceled the order (no problem, of course!) and lived on happily ever thereafter as I need no longer theorize about quality of service, customer experience and loyalty and such stuff for weirdos only.