The Absurdity of a First World Problem

An Olivetti rotary dial telephone, c.1940s

There is a person (let's call him Mr. Smith) that has always had problems with cell phones. Mr. Smith is in his 90s and just doesn't quite grasp the full concept of how to use a cell phone. He forgets to turn it on. If he remembers to turn it on he forgets to recharge it. And most often he forgets to bring it with him. Mr. Smith has had a number of relatives try to show him how to use his cell phone which has usually been an older style flip phone. But those instructions usually are forgotten within a matter of days or weeks simply because he doesn't use his cell phone with any regularity.  Mr. Smith decided that he needed a new phone because it must be that his cheap phone just doesn't work. It also doesn't help that Mr. Smith loves gadgets and always wants the best possible one; or at least what he images to be the best possible one. And Mr. Smith has seen his family using their smartphones with ease.

So Mr. Smith went to the store in search of a better phone.

They sold a 90 year old senior citizen that has trouble with cell phones (and even cordless phones for that matter) a Samsung Galaxy S3. 

And they did so without showing him how to use it. 

The salesperson told him that they do have classes on how to use the phone but that they don't have any scheduled anytime soon.

Now Mr. Smith has a far more complex phone with features that he will never understand let alone use and presumably a two year contract that includes data, messaging and a exorbitant number of minutes that won’t get use. 

There is a part of me that sort of wants God to dole out a bit of extra judgment on salespeople that take advantage of people. There is also the part of me that wants those salespeople to find forgiveness. And I need to remind myself that I am only imagining a sales person and a transaction that I did not observe. It could be that Mr. Smith went in and demanded the "best phone." It could be that the sales person tried to talk him into something different but Mr. Smith wouldn't budge on what he was going to buy. I worked in retail for a long time and actually had these types of experiences. 

Knowing Mr. Smith this isn't completely outside the realm of possibility or even the realm of probability.

In the end it doesn't really matter what events occurred that led to Mr. Smith sitting there trying to figure out how to use his new Samsung Galaxy S3. All I can really do is shake my head and try to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.