   I am a fool! [ A mothers day story.]
  Greetings gents,Let me tell you a short story. It happened just a few hours ago.Once upon a time three adult siblings went to a photo studio, their mother wanted them to get a picture of the 3 of them as that's the sort of things mothers want on made up birthday-card holidays.Of these 3 siblings there was the youngest, A 17 year old auto mechanic in training, There was me, the middle child and 22 year old geek. And the oldest; a 25 year old single mum with no job and living off the government.The oldest found an offer by this photo studio for mothers day. A professional photoshoot of the three siblings would only cost a kindly $50. I was sceptical of such offers so I knew from the get go this occasion was going to cost me. And while it would be my preference to not buy shit on such an arbitrary day and rather focus on gifts for my mothers birthday, fuck it, life ain't that simple and family shuns you for now following the gift giving bullshit of mothers day.So the photos where taken and there all tallied up. We get the portrait, but they take other photos as well of singles and other poses. Naturally we 'need' to have these as well. I do manage to distil 20 photos down to 8 though.So for 8 photos it comes to an impressively overpriced $490, [Although discounted from an original magical price of $1,500 to which I say.. what the fuck!]So I choose to do the logical thing. Of the three of us it's my job to sort this shit out as my sister has no bargaining skills and my brother could care less. I start to remove photos until I got it down to 5 photos amd what I thought was going to lower the price down to at least $300, still overpriced but at the least my mind can justify it in some odd way.it comes to $660 .... wait...what?Indeed once you remove photos, you lose that magical discount. So ok, it's obvious i've just been suckered, now I have two choices, pay for the photos because my sister is now looking very nervous and edgy because she had no idea such a wonderful $50 deal could end up costing so much. She hasn't quite grasped the concept of 'too good to be true'Or do I leave this mess and explain to my mum she will not get her photos because I didn't want to pay for them.I'm now $490 poorer, having purchased photos that I couldn't justify the pricing of this service. Only paying for it to shut my siblings and parents up about the whole thing.What have I learned from this? Two things.Never, ever, ever, ever have photos taken professionally other the passport photos, it's overpriced and bullshit for what it is. This place wasn't even high class, it was your run of the mill photoshoot place.And secondly, I am a fool!So the question I ask to you guys, have you ever made a purchase that was generally foolish or stupid for the sake of family, whether that be to please or just shut up the family?[Edited by - DesignerWatts on May 9, 2009 12:58:27 AM]
  Umm... wtf? When we get family portraits it's usually less then $50 unless my wife goes really crazy or a lot of the sets turn out very good.Back on topic, no. I don't regret making any of the purchases I've made for my family. Hell, last year I bought my parents a 42" plasma for their living room as a thank you for helping my cover rent and other expenses when I was bouncing around between jobs. I generally overspend on the holidays for my family, and especially my wife and child.Case in point, this year my wife is getting the bedroom set she wants for mothers day, to the tune of $6,000.   ;  I bought a watch for a hooker once. It costed me USD 13.51 and I WASN'T DRUNK.   ;  I agree with tstrimp. It's not the price that's bad. What's bad is that you hate Mother's Day because of it. Lesson learned, you'll plan better next year so that you can make her most happy with what you spend.   ;  I tend to overspend as well. And on most occasions I'm quite happy about the purchases I make for my family. I'm definitely the one who ends up spending the most at Christmas and Birthdays because I don't like to be cheap. I was quite happy with myself last year because I got everyone some very nice leather wallets. You do what you can to say thank you. :)This occasion though. Can't say I got value for money. All prices are in Australian dollars but even then, yeah I don't know how they justify such prices. I can justify [by justify I mean save up and afford] splurging on family on Birthdays and Christmas, but something like mothers day. Just didn't feel happy about this whole thing.Quote:Original post by tstrimpUmm... wtf? When we get family portraits it's usually less then $50 unless my wife goes really crazy or a lot of the sets turn out very good.Back on topic, no. I don't regret making any of the purchases I've made for my family. Hell, last year I bought my parents a 42" plasma for their living room as a thank you for helping my cover rent and other expenses when I was bouncing around between jobs. I generally overspend on the holidays for my family, and especially my wife and child.Case in point, this year my wife is getting the bedroom set she wants for mothers day, to the tune of $6,000.[Edited by - DesignerWatts on May 9, 2009 2:56:31 AM];  Yeah, I apologise about that remark. I'm mostly frustrated on the fact that this whole thing was a team effort from all of us siblings and in the end I had to ware the biggest cost of it. Still amazed at how expensive the whole thing was. They better be the best damm-photos i've ever seen. XDQuote:Original post by anothrguitaristI agree with tstrimp. It's not the price that's bad. What's bad is that you hate Mother's Day because of it. Lesson learned, you'll plan better next year so that you can make her most happy with what you spend.;  $500? They saw you coming...   