Perception vs. Reality

Sometimes what you think and what is real are not the same thing.  Okay, maybe a lot of the time, but here are a couple of instances that happened to me recently.

Mirror, Mirror, Is That All?

We bought Jonathan a mirror for his birthday.  Sounds pretty chintzy, doesn't it?

Well, it was a mirror for his car, as the one on the passenger side got busted.  He looked around at junkyards for a replacement, but his Kia is too new.  None in the junkyards.  So then he checked online and found the best deal.

Let's just say it was over $50.  Me being ignorant, my perception was that price was for the whole assembly... the mirror and that domed metal part it sets in.

When it arrived and Jonathan opened the bigger box, then brought out THIS box:

It became obvious to me very quickly that no way that held the whole assembly.  (Yeah, I know, I'm a real genius sometimes.)


No indeed, THIS is what we got Jonathan for his birthday:

 

 

Doesn't look like much, does it?

However, Jonathan informed me it's more than just a mirror, and has some stuff on the back. . .

And that includes parts to allow the mirror to be moved 'remotely' and such.

Obviously, my perception and the reality were not even close.  Jonathan chided me that I was thinking in terms of prices at junkyards, that no way you could buy the entire thing that "cheaply".

Okay, I'm behind the times.  I just never expected that little bit of glass to cost so  much.

You Can't Get There From Here. . .

Or, Another mistaken perception of mine tied in with a birthday.

Today is Ellie's 8th birthday.  Just amazes me that she is 8 years old already!

I sent her a birthday card with some $$ to go toy shopping, but I was afraid it wouldn't get to her in time.  So when I sent it, instead of sending her the entire amount of $$ I was going to spend on her birthday, I held some back.

I had the bright idea that my back-up plan would be to send her a gift card for some apps for her iPad, and that I would just pop online on her birthday and buy the card, and they'd deliver it electronically like it works at Amazon.

Yeah, right.

After searching around for awhile trying to find where the gift cards were, I finally Skyped Richard and asked him if he knew.  Turns out it was well that I did, because you have to buy the gift card through the Canadian Apple store for it to be used in Canada.

So I signed up for the Canadian Apple / iTunes store, used the link Richard sent me to get the right gift card, and was going through the check-out procedure when I hit the first glitch there... they didn't like the street address I gave them.  Asked Richard and turns out they are no longer living on an Avenue, but it got changed to Street, so yeah, use the address they suggested.

Then I put in the postal code (that's equivalent to our zip code to U.S. readers who might not know), and it didn't like that either.  What???

Turns out I'd been using the wrong zip code.  After checking with Richard to see what was the right code, it became obvious that at some point in time I miscopied a G as a 6.  (It's going to be interesting to see if Ellie gets her mail any faster once I start using the correct STREET and postal code!)

Okay, got that fixed and I finally had Ellie's address completely entered and all the info was finally accepted.  Time to move on to the billing address.

Well, like I said, you can't get there from here.  It wanted a province and postal code for info, and all I had was a state and zip code.

I got hold of a customer representative and asked if there was any way for a U.S. person to buy a Canadian person a gift card.  The answer, in a word, was: NO. 

I can't buy a card in the U.S. store and send that to her because it wouldn't work in her "Canadian" iPad.  I can't buy a card in the Canadian store because it won't take my U.S. address and credit card.

Finally my Canadian Ambassador (aka Richard) said to just send him the $$ and he'd buy the card.  Only when he went online to buy it, he discovered that someone has to be home to sign for the card when it's delivered!!!

They sure don't make it easy to buy anything.

Bottom line... he's going to the grocery store and buy one there.  At this point, she DID get her card on time, so this will be for her "2nd birthday" when they have a party during their spring break.

So my naive perception of getting online on Ellie's birthday and sending her a gift card for her iPad was totally blown out of the water when reality smacked me in the face.  I spent a couple of hours trying to do something that it ends up there was no way to do.

Perception vs. Reality.  Sure wish mine matched more often!