Friday, December 12, 2008

Paying for Stuff

The economy must be in bad shape. Yesterday, I actually managed to find a parking space on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills...less than two weeks before Christmas.

I was over there for a business-type meeting but while in the area, I decided to visit a clothing store I rarely but occasionally patronize. I'd shop there more often but their prices are...

Well, let me tell you a story.

About fifteen years ago, I was in Times Square in New York and I passed one of those discount electronics places they have there in between Ray's Pizza restaurants. In the window of the electronics store, I noticed a camera I'd been planning to purchase. I'd priced it in L.A. and it was around $200. Its price there wasn't visible so I went in and when I looked at the price tag, I couldn't believe it: Eight hundred smackers. Plus tax.

The salesman saw me do my Tex Avery take and he rushed over and said, "That's not the price you'd pay. That's the foreigners' price. I'll let you have it for $175."

It took me about three seconds to grasp the concept. They'd put the $800 price tag on it because every so often, someone would walk in who didn't understand American money or didn't have a conversion chart from their native dollar or something. Every so often, some "foreigner" would, I guess, actually shell out the eight hundred clams.

Even though the camera was cheaper than in L.A., I couldn't buy it there. Not in a store that did that. The salesman, seeing me heading for the door, went down to $160 but I still didn't buy it from them. I'm sure you understand.

That little incident stayed with me. I'm not stingy about paying for things and I often think it's cost-effective to buy the best, even when the best costs more. But I don't like paying the "foreigners' price" for something even when I could easily afford it. It's not the money. I just don't like that feeling of being taken. (Well actually, it is the money. When people say, "It isn't the money," it's always the money. But in this situation, I think: "Gee, instead of buying this here, I could buy a comparable one somewhere else and give the cash I save to charity or put it to better use.")

That clothing store in Beverly Hills has wonderful shirts and pants and jackets. First rate stuff. But most of it is priced in a range that makes me feel I'm being charged the "foreigners' price." I could pay it and people do. (I've been in there about six times and twice, I've seen Penn Jillette shopping there. It's a store for large 'n' tall people.) But I've only bought a few items because I'd feel like a rube to pay those prices.

The other day, I got a coupon in the mail from them: Fifty bucks off if you come in and spend money between now and Christmas. That's not bad, thought I. As far as I could tell, it was fifty bucks off any purchase. Nothing in the fine print suggested that if I selected a $51 shirt, I couldn't take it home for a dollar. So since I was going to be in the neighborhood anyway, I thought I'd hike over and do a little for-myself Christmas shopping. Besides, I'd found that wonderful parking space and I didn't want to waste it on one stop.

So I strolled in, looked around...and I couldn't help thinking that right after they sent the coupons out, they'd marked everything in the store up at least $75. I looked at a shirt very much like one I'd bought there a few months ago for $80 and it was $200. I thought, "Everything is marked with the 'foreigners' price' and I turned and headed for the door. I'm sure if I'd looked around, I could have found something that with the coupon would have been desirable. But I suddenly found myself really, really not liking the store.

I wonder how prevalent this kind of thing is this year. If we end up hearing "retail sales are down," that would suggest the consumers have not kept their usual end of the deal...but maybe in some cases, it's because retailers are getting too mercenary. We used to have a dealer who came to sell his wares at local comic book conventions and was always bitching about "stiff customers." He'd set up, sell very little, then complain loudly that the con management had failed to attract a buying crowd and should refund his table fees. A more likely explanation would be his insistence on charging 50% more than anyone else in the hall for the exact same things. I think what he really wanted was for the con to attract a lot of foreigners.

• Posted at 6:38 PM · LINK

The Nutty Recipient

Like a lot of you, I'm surprised to hear that Jerry Lewis will be receiving the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards ceremony on February 22. The surprising thing about this, of course, is that he didn't get it a quarter of a century ago.

Sid Ganis, the president of the Academy, calls Lewis "a legendary comedian who has brought laughter to millions around the world and who has helped thousands upon thousands by raising funds and awareness for those suffering from muscular dystrophy." That's all true but wasn't it true in 1983? Before that, even? Whatever greatness Jerry has as a comedian, he had in equal measure in 1965. As for his charity work, he's raised a reported 2 billion dollars for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. When he was up to 1.5 billion, did the Academy think, "Not good enough. Let's wait 'til he raises some serious money and then we'll consider him"?

I guess if I'd thought about it before this, I would have figured either that Lewis had long since received this award or there was some reason...like he'd disqualified himself or the judges had seen Hardly Working or something. It's good that they're doing this. If nothing else, it'll be nice to see someone on the Oscar ceremony who's older than home video.

• Posted at 1:26 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Here's something I'll bet some of you either don't remember or never knew about. We all know how Groucho Marx hosted a game show called You Bet Your Life on radio and TV from 1947 to 1961. You may recall that Bill Cosby hosted a syndicated revival of the program in 1992.

But did you know Buddy Hackett took a shot at the show? In 1980, there was a syndicated version that starred Mr. Hackett. It didn't last long. As I recall, it was on at 11 PM for a few weeks in Los Angeles and then they bumped it to 1 AM or thereabouts. Never a good sign.

Here's a promo for the Hackett version. I think the pretty blonde lady you'll see in there is Playboy model Debra Jo Fondren, who was a contestant and who can now be seen on the autograph convention circuit, still looking lovely.

• Posted at 12:16 AM · LINK