Post by kathyb on Feb 19, 2007 20:40:16 GMT -5
Dawn's post on the Everybody's Talking board about old technology becoming obsolete, and an experience I had this past Saturday prompted this post from me.
My mom's VCR went on the blink last week. Since her birthday's coming up soon, I figured a new VCR would make a nice gift for her. So on Saturday, I went to my local Best Buy, thinking I could find one with no problem. Boy, was I wrong! After searching awhile, and making my way past the ocean of people in the store, I finally found the section where I thought the VCR's would be. The only problem: No VCR's to be found. There were a couple of VCR/DVD "combo" machines, but no plain old VCR's. So, as I was debating with myself whether to buy one of those for my mom, even though she already has a DVD player, one of the Best Buy employees, who looked like he was about 10 years old, came up to me asking if he could help me. I said I was looking for just a regular VCR, and he laughed at me! He said they didn't sell those anymore. Then he told me I could probably find one at a pawn shop for 20 or 30 bucks. And he laughed again. So, instead of slapping him upside his head like I wanted to, I just started asking him about the VCR/DVD combo I was looking at. I said it didn't look like there was a "Record" button on the VCR, and he said "Yeah, there is. It's right there". And he pushed the "Stop" button. I said "That's a Record button?" He said yeah, and he pushed the Stop button again, I guess for emphasis. At that point, I didn't want to deal with this kid anymore, so I said thanks and walked out of the store. There's a Wal-Mart across the way from the Best Buy, so I went there. They didn't have any VCR's either, but they did have more of a selection of VCR/DVD combos than Best Buy, so I found one with a Record feature on it, and I bought it. I guess the DVD player my mom has can just be hooked up to the TV in her bedroom.
I know the new thing now is DVR's, or Tivo, but my mom is not one to learn anything new, so I know she'd prefer a VCR. But I guess they've gone, or are slowly going, by the wayside.
My mom's VCR went on the blink last week. Since her birthday's coming up soon, I figured a new VCR would make a nice gift for her. So on Saturday, I went to my local Best Buy, thinking I could find one with no problem. Boy, was I wrong! After searching awhile, and making my way past the ocean of people in the store, I finally found the section where I thought the VCR's would be. The only problem: No VCR's to be found. There were a couple of VCR/DVD "combo" machines, but no plain old VCR's. So, as I was debating with myself whether to buy one of those for my mom, even though she already has a DVD player, one of the Best Buy employees, who looked like he was about 10 years old, came up to me asking if he could help me. I said I was looking for just a regular VCR, and he laughed at me! He said they didn't sell those anymore. Then he told me I could probably find one at a pawn shop for 20 or 30 bucks. And he laughed again. So, instead of slapping him upside his head like I wanted to, I just started asking him about the VCR/DVD combo I was looking at. I said it didn't look like there was a "Record" button on the VCR, and he said "Yeah, there is. It's right there". And he pushed the "Stop" button. I said "That's a Record button?" He said yeah, and he pushed the Stop button again, I guess for emphasis. At that point, I didn't want to deal with this kid anymore, so I said thanks and walked out of the store. There's a Wal-Mart across the way from the Best Buy, so I went there. They didn't have any VCR's either, but they did have more of a selection of VCR/DVD combos than Best Buy, so I found one with a Record feature on it, and I bought it. I guess the DVD player my mom has can just be hooked up to the TV in her bedroom.
I know the new thing now is DVR's, or Tivo, but my mom is not one to learn anything new, so I know she'd prefer a VCR. But I guess they've gone, or are slowly going, by the wayside.
