Before I kick this off, I'd like to state that I'm more than aware of the irony here, considering the majority of my posts so far have been about clothes I've brought...
So the Nexus 4 plan kind of fell through, dramatically and very unexpectedly. Even with barely any prior promotion, Google sold out of the Nexus 4's within ~5 minutes of availability - and that's for a phone that went live at 8am (who puts a phone on sale at 8am?); what's more is that at 8:30am while I was travelling back home from Charlotte's I received an e-mail from Google telling me 'The Nexus 4 is now available for purchase'. Hilarious, Google.
After frantically heading into Carphone Warehouse on both release and post-release day - I was told they're not selling contractless for 'a good few weeks'; and the O2 store are selling the phone at a hilarious £399. So I guess my plan is to either wait until the Play Store restock (???) or if my own store gets some, cop one.
The reaction of the community who were unable to nab a device has been very disappointing. I can totally understand that people are pissed that they weren't able to buy one right away; but this suffocation of consumerism and the thirst for false-needs are evident all around. People tend to be SO outraged simply because they didn't buy a phone on release day. Sure, I have submerged myself in materialistic needs before and was disappointed I didn't get a Nexus 4 right away; but I'll accept it. It'll come, as with anything else.
People seem to have the idea that it's a right they have to have this phone, when frankly it's a privilege.
That goes for any sort of materialistic element one may obsess to possess. It's not what you want to hear, but you're not a priority to receive anything, the world doesn't owe you any favours simply because you exist. I get this more than enough while serving customers at work - there are more than a fair share of arrogant consumers who feel the need to get irate when something we have isn't in stock, to their price liking or that we won't take their item for trade & give them money (or that we're not giving them as much money as they'd like). I can empathise with the irritation, I can. But consumerism to this extent is optional. I'll repeat; optional. If you don't like how much money my store has to offer you for your device then simply don't sell it. I really don't have to spell it out. There are times where I really am sick of being yelled by a fickle customer who doesn't understand that it's not something I control. I guess with a good workforce and community my attitude is better but hey that's a tangent.
I'm not saying consumerism is all bad, there are many great elements to it - the satisfaction, the community, the even the sense of belonging. I think its definitely overshadowed by the obsession and thirst for instant gratification that the western world seem to possess.
Take care.
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