My New Watch

The silver lining of this recession is the fact that certain luxury goods have dropped in price dramatically. I don't have anywhere to put a jacuzzi but when I saw a great deal on Amazon for a watch I would have never otherwise been able to afford, I pounced.

It's from Stuhrling and normally goes for $345. I got it in the mail recently and it is even nicer in person. I am in love with it. It's sophisticated and feminine. It's nice enough to wear in a corporate setting (for when I land that dream job) but not too fancy to wear with denim. Since it's self winding I won't ever have to figure out how to replace a watch battery either and that's a bit of a relief.

So here's what happened with Amazon. I bought it and during the time it took to ship the price went down by $18 or so. Although I loved the watch, I was disappointed that I lost out by not waiting two days to place my order. I did some quick online research (read: Googling) and determined that Amazon used to have a policy that refunded any price changes within thirty days of purchase but stopped doing it last year.

So I did something that I had never done before: I e-mailed Amazon. I explained the situation in a polite way and requested that the difference be refunded. I was pleasantly surprised by the response (which was very speedy by the way):

Hello from Amazon.com.

Thanks for contacting us about the recent price change on "Stuhrling Original Women's Cupid Automatic Watch Set #109SET". I recognize you have a choice of retailers and appreciate that you prefer to order from us. Unfortunately, we do not have a post-order price guarantee.

I've reviewed your order and see that the price change was significant and you just received this item from us.

Under the circumstances, I'll make a one-time exception for you and issue a refund for the price difference in the amount of $18.85(including tax). You should see the refund in the next 2-3 business days.

Please understand that I'm issuing this refund because of the exceptional circumstances, and I'm doing this for you against our standard policy.

WHY DON'T YOU HAVE A PRICE GUARANTEE?
While we don't always beat the best available price on every product, we do offer deep discounts on many thousands of items. From time to time, prices on some items will change due to special offers from suppliers and manufacturers or our inventory and sales volumes. When we can offer a lower price for new purchases we will, but we cannot extend these discounts to completed orders.

Thanks for shopping at Amazon.com. We look forward to your next visit.

There are lots of sites out there where people voice their displeasure about how they are treated by retailers. Satisfied customers are never as vocal as ones that are unhappy. That's just the way life works, but a motto I have adopted is to be the change you wish to see in the universe. Amazon did a great job and they deserve a shout out. I can now enjoy my new watch without feeling even a twinge of regret.

Pesach Price Gouging

You'd think that with my new life I'd hardly be aware of the upcoming holiday. But since capitalism is still hanging on by a thread, local grocery stores are tripping over themselves to provide stacks upon stacks of the Pesach goods that are already being bought by the cartload. And I'm not just talking about the local heimishe stores. My local Pathmark starts reorganizing their aisles for Pesach at least three months before anyone has picked up their first broom.

They don't do it because they have such abundant love for frum Jews, oh no. They cater to the frum community because they are willing to pay any price for Pesach goods. Really. My favorite half sour pickles just happen to be OUP all year 'round, and they suddenly jumped in price from $3 to $6 in the space of a week. It's a real hassle for me because the non heimeshe brands really don't cut it for half sour pickles. Luckily for me, pickles are the only food I will have to go without for the next few weeks.

If you are unfortunate enough to only use heimishe brands during Pesach, you have my sympathies. In the event that you managed to salvage any retirement funds at all after the stock market crash, they will be eaten up (literally) by your Pesach shopping. Everthing from sugar to grapejuice to gefilte fish will magically have astronomical price tags on them in honor of Pesach. Because it's a monopoly and they know you have to pay it. I'm curious to know how much the "superfrum" matzas are going to be per pound this year.

Although Jewish holidays were not the reason I stopped being frum, I have to say that every time one comes around I smile and feel truly glad that I don't have to put up with this nonsense. No obssessive cleaning. No wierd diet restrictions. I mean let's face it: They don't explain (and I mean really explain) the wonders of Pesach to prospective Baalei Teshuva at Aish [Brainwashing] Seminars for a good reason. Because this is one of many aspects of Judaism that makes you more likely to go insane - and broke - than be enriched.

Oh so back to the price gouging. Apparently the Rabbis did what they do best (and characteristically decades too late) - they banned price gouging of Pesach food. As if that's going to do any good. Exactly how are they going to determine what the fair going rate of a product is? Some pesach food is very difficult to manufacture at the standards people demand, and if the company can't fetch enough money for the product they will stop producing it. And even if they did find a way to determine where the price gouging was taking place, what exactly do they plan to do about it? The whole thing is such a joke.

Purim Is Scary

When I was a kid, Halloween was a night we dreaded. We stayed in and kept the lights off to avoid any prospective trick-or-treaters. And we saw the results of the festivities the next morning: egged cars, shaving cream and toilet paper. And perhaps some candy wrappers.

In contrast, Purim was fun. We got dressed up in costumes and drove around town delivering baskets full of treats to all our friends. A task that would have normally been pretty fast took hours because of the sheer chaos on the roads. Drivers stopped their cars in middle of the road to shmooze, oblivious of the honking behind them. Drunk yeshiva bachurim swerved, narrowly missing pedestrians and other drivers. Hyper kids overloaded on sugar were everywhere. As I look back, all that fun might not have been such a good thing.

When you really sit down and think about it, Purim is an insane holiday. People are actually encouraged to get drunk. Just in case someone might think that the mitzva is to drink but not to excess, it says specifically to drink until you don't know the difference between Mordechai and Haman. That, my friends, means drinking to excess. And it says nothing about refraining from driving while doing said drinking. Okay, operating a horse and wagon - they wouldn't have known about cars when this stuff was written.

I wisely stayed off the roads today. I have had enough of the chaos. The clogged roads, the honking horns, the decorations that regularly fall off moving cars. It's pretty scary actually.

Oh The Things You CAN'T Do

Recently, a woman posted on Hashkafah.com that she was thinking of buying a bike. She liked the idea of getting some exercise while simultaneously having a convenient method of transportation. Although she would of course avoid religious neighborhoods during her excursions, she was still very concerned that her bike riding habits might come back to bite her when trying to marry off her children down the road. Yes, I'm serious.

Something I haven't thought about in a while is the amount of purely social restrictions Orthodox Jews take upon themselves. Each on its own isn't really a big deal. But all together, they are truly stifling - especially for women. How many women are careful to apply makeup and wear a perfectly styled wig every time they leave the house for shidduchim? I'm sure there are more than a few. And then there's all the "Can'ts".

• You can't own a dog.
• You can't send your daughter to school out of town.
• (If you're a man) you can't wear a shirt that's a color other than white.
• You can't have any problems (physical or emotional) - if you do you must go to great lengths to conceal them.
• You can't have exceptional talents especially if you're a woman.

The list goes on. There was this girl I knew a while ago who was a talanted dancer - mostly ballet. But when she started to get too good, her parents forced her to stop taking lessons. Her life spiraled out of control after that, and she's not in a very good place these days. Another girl lived close to an ice skating rink and was very good, but last I heard she was sent off to seminary and somehow I doubt there are many ice rinks over there.

It may surprise you, but most kids are told that they can grow up to be anyone, to do anything. All they'd have to do is dream big enough and try hard enough. But there is a limit lower than the sky for frum children - especially girls. There is a whole list of professions that aren't feasible for Jews for various reasons (kosher, shabbos, Jewish holidays), and an even longer list that are restricted for Jewish women because they're not tznius enough, garner too much attention or are simply not fit for a Bas Yisroel.

A frum woman can't be a television news anchor, an Olympic gymnast or an auto mechanic. A frum little girl can't dream of becoming a ballerina or a racecar driver. She can't be anything she wants to be. Instead, she can choose from the list of majors at Touro. She can dream of speech therapy or occupational therapy - or perhaps psychology. And if she's really out there she could choose math or accounting. Because when you're frum, you don't get to choose your destiny. It's all conveniently laid out for you.

My friend's sister went to medical school several years ago. She is an extremely intelligent frum woman who intended on lending her expertise to the frum community, one which was certainly in need of a frum female doctor. Her high school refused to send her transcripts and the community in general caused many problems. In the end, she prevailed. She now has her own practice and cares for the children of the very people who caused her so much anguish. If you are an idealistic young frum person, know that individuality and independance is strongly discouraged in your world. I wish you lots of luck.