MELT DOWN

We talk about having a melt-down like it is a bad thing but having recently had what I consider to be a serious melt-down I now think it is a good thing.  I've bounced back a little stronger with a new purpose and vigour in my life.

Think of melting down chocolate - what do you get?  Ganache.  What could be nicer?  You take something perfectly good, melt it down add a few minor ingredients and you get something better and way more versatile.  You can use it for icing, filling, decorating etc. etc.  Without a melt-down it would still be "just chocolate".

With a personal melt-down, you go crazy - nothing makes sense, you become paranoid, you cry a river of tears, listen to really sad country music, cry even more and drink a little too much alcohol - OK, drink way too much alcohol,  Then, if you are lucky, you get to meet with your girl friends and enjoy fabulous Thai food for dinner, drink a little champagne and they reassure you that you are great and doing really well. You then give yourself a serious talking to and promise to get your life back on track, eat healthy food and stop drinking alcohol, promise to ring up about those guitar lessons.  Voila, a melt down with a few added extras and you have come out the other side a better and stronger person.

What about aluminium - an amazingly strong metal and it comes from melting-down bauxite.  Well, I think that's how it's made anyway. I am sure it a little more complex than that but as this is my blog I have editorial licence.   Without melt-downs we wouldn't have discovered aluminium which is used to make all sorts of stuff, i.e. drink cans, aluminium foil etc. etc.

When glass melts down, you can create amazing art and glass sculptures.  Without a melt-down, all you have is boring old glass ...

Without melt-downs, we would all just stay the same.  We wouldn't be re-inventing ourselves to grow and develop.  A melt-down makes you stop and question, makes you ask how you can improve and be stronger.

Next time I am looking down the barrel of a melt-down, I shall embrace it and use it to toughen up.

HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO BUY A NEW CAR?

Ladies,  imagine going into a dress shop and asking “how much is this and do you have it in size 12?” and being told it depends on whether you are prepared to commit to buying it before they can give you a price.  Seriously, you would laugh and think they were joking.

It appears that this is what happens when buying a new car.  It is a very different ball-game and all the shopping rules that I’ve been brought up with have been thrown out the window.  I’m not sure over the last week if I’ve been trying to buy a car or force somebody to sell me one. 

Shoes always have the price clearly marked on them so you know if you can afford them or not.  Even in the supermarkets they clearly have the price of goods marked and even tell you how much per 100g the item costs so you can easily compare and this is for all items – regardless of how expensive they are. 

It’s not that I have anything against “haggling” but surely you need a starting point before you can begin the haggling process.   You know how it goes – Monty Python style - “Fifty bucks for this, you must be mad, I’ll give you forty-five.” 

It’s not that buying a car is an auction style affair where you just wander in and offer the first number that comes into your head and see what happens.  Actually, that sounds like my next step.  I might just go in and say I’d like this car with mats, cruise control, head-light protectors, bonnet protector, spare tyre (that’s not a joke – it’s hard to believe it’s an optional extra on some cars!) and I’m willing to give a $3000 changeover.   Maybe we would see how quickly they’d start talking dollars.

I started out looking forward to buying a new car and I thought it would be a simple matter of picking my favourites, test driving them, getting a valuation on my trade-in and coming away with a changeover figure.   I could then compare the cars I liked best and make a decision. If only it was that simple!  Two visits to two major car dealers and I still didn’t know how much either of the cars would cost me.  I would like to think they were trying to con me because I was a woman but I don’t even think that’s the case.  They seem to do it to everybody. 

If all firms played by these rules, people would be going through the supermarket check-out with no idea how much their weekly groceries would cost until they’d committed to purchase them.  People would be outraged and it wouldn’t be allowed to happen.

Fuel companies have to advertise clearly how much per litre they are charging for fuel – you don’t go and fill-up and then ask how much it will cost you.  You know up front before you commit to purchasing. 

For some reason, the price of cars must be kept a big secret until you are committed to purchase.  Surely people have the right to get prices and compare.

I was told by one salesperson that they didn’t want to lose my business because of price.  PRICE!! If only they would have given me a price.  I told them they would lose my business because they were doing my head in and left. 

Do they honestly think that this tactic is going to work?  Who would be stupid enough to commit to buying a car before knowing how much it will cost them?  They can sit me down, suck up to me, offer coffee and tell me they are there to help me but it is not going to make me fork over my hard-earned money without knowing the bottom line.   In fact, offering me road-side assist when I’m already in RACQ is probably not a massive big selling point and nor is having a courtesy car when mine is being serviced.  I would have thought one of the best selling points would be giving the prospective buyer a price so they could make a decision. 

It’s not “rocket science” – it is selling a bloody car and it should be a simple and enjoyable experience for the buyer, not an exercise in frustration.