Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Price is What?


A few years ago, when beautiful wife Sandy and I were young marrieds, we had to watch every penny to stay above the poverty line. Included in our little family was a lovable poodle named Mitch—for Mitch Miller, the sing-along star of TV fame. Trust me; there really was a resemblance between the jovial band leader and our favorite pooch.


We wanted all the best for Mitch so, despite our meager bank account, when doggie problems came up we promptly took him to a veterinarian of good repute. Dr. Shebanek had a degree from Ohio State as a credential, and a pleasant dog-side manner that made clients want to return whenever professional care was indicated. After several visits, we noticed the bill was identical for quite different services.


We began to refer to the good vet as “Twenty-dollar Shebanek.” We paid that amount every time we put Mitch in his care. Perhaps the limited fee schedule was a way of simplifying his bookkeeping.


Nearly a half century and lots of cost inflation later, we noticed a certain parallel. Sandy’s computer went soundless. Our favorite expert couldn’t fix it. It was repaired at the local techie place. Cost: $200.


This happened about a week after a blogger from Ohio reported her computer developed a mysterious ailment, which her electronic expert friend couldn’t fix. It went into the shop for repairs. Cost: $200. Just after Sandy’s puter returned to duty a blogger in Virginia said his machine went whacko and was sent off for treatment because he could not find a cure. Cost: $200.


We just don’t know what to call the repair nerds. Maybe, $200 geeks? Doesn’t seem to have much pizzazz to it.

4 comments:

Kay Dennison said...

I am so blessed that my ex-husband is a retired tech and will work on my computer for me. (I call it my alimony.) One thing I'm pretty good at is being a freak about maintenance of my computer. The latest problem was cured by changing my default browser to Firefox. It's not perfect but it
works better that IE.

schmidleysscribblins,wordpress.com said...

How bizarre. Were you all using the same repairman? Dianne

Tom said...

I think you're on to something. My repair bill from April 26: 189.99 + 14.01 tax = 204.00

P.S. Speaking of which ... anyone else have blogger trouble on Thursday? I could not get it to log me on. (I was away yesterday, so I've been away for two days ... seems like forever!)

Dick Klade said...

Sightings, Blogger wouldn't let me enter to do a post starting Wednesday evening. Whatever the problem was, it cleared up Thursday before noon. All has gone well since.