Spanish is not my forte! In school the
options were French or German, and I didn´t grow up with Dora the
explorer. You´d think living in Latin
America for four years I would naturally be shoved into the guru category of
the language – yet I am far from reaching that status. Before we left Australia, I received the best
present ever – the Latin American homeschool edition Rosetta Stone kit from my
dear friend, Donna.
The gift was marvelous! It moved me from “I know nothing” to feeling
comfortable with transactional conversations.
In January 2011, we were robbed –
the thieves pretty much gutted the place; taking electronic items all the way down
to basic products such as hair gel and toothpaste! And yes, my beloved homeschool edition
Español Latin American Level 1 Rosetta Stone, was taken in that fleet.
We work with street kids in
Nicaragua, so my Spanish has improved – yet sadly it is now at “intermediate
gutter level” due to the type of Spanish my unaware maestros use, in our
beloved barrio.
So, during our trip to the USA,
we decided to seize the moment and purchase Rosetta Stone. We looked at the prices and almost had a heart
attack. My coupon-money-saving queen of
a friend, Jen, suggested we check out Craig´s list.
Low and behold, there was a
bargain; Rosetta Stone Latin America Levels 1-5 NEVER BEEN OPENED for a third
of the price.
Jed´s fingers did the typing and
before I could sit down to enjoy my deluxe block of Cadburys Chocolate, which
my darling friend Mugs had bought me, we were out the door, in the car and on
our way to meet this mysterious seller.
As we zoomed along the leafy
streets of Fairfax, Virginia, Mugs´ words began to echo in my ears; “I don´t
know about this Craig´s List… I´ve had friends experience success through this
selling medium, but… let´s just say, anyone can seran-wrap a box…”
Now let´s detour for a second for
a getting-to-know Liz opportunity: When I shop, I always embarrass my
husband. Not only will I haggle on
prices but I will also inspect the item as if I were a detective... I check and
test the seams in clothes, I examine electrical cords ensuring everything is in
working order, I even have new light bulbs checked before I purchase them. I
think I inherited this skill from my father, who is an engineer.
So, naturally, skeptical me went
on a mission to convince “A-stranger-is-a-friend-you-haven´t-met-yet” Jed to
risk losing this friend for the sake
of not being scammed.
The meeting place: Starbucks. Time
agreed: 10am
To our surprise, we arrived on-time
(those of you who know us, know what an achievement being on-time actually
is). The seller rang to say he was
running a little late but would arrive shortly.
Naturally, I took full advantage
of this situation and walked off to check out the nearby shops; knowing full
well Jed couldn´t move from his position to control my purchases!
Jed´s head poked through the door
of the shop, “Liz, he´s here and I need you to… ya know, do your thing...” I
finished up my browsing and headed back to the "bucks."
A twenty-something, fairly good
looking, southern-European chap was sitting at the coffee table with a yellow Rosetta
Stone box in front of him.
We sat down.
The man passed the plastic
wrapped box to Jed, who turned it around and around in his hands.
“So can we check it out?” Jed
boldly asked then passed it to me.
“Well, it´s never been opened…” The brown-eyed seller started to say before I
interjected stating our assurance of purchasing it and providing a list of reasons
why it was important we just quickly check the contents.
I heard the beginning of his “okay,”
and pierced the plastic wrap with my key.
As I opened up the treasure, Jed sought friendship – starting up his
“getting to know you” questionnaire.
I viewed the contents. Everything in the box looked intact, though I
noticed a slight rip in the sleeve which held the five discs. The Spanish stick-on-keyboard guide was
missing two characters.
“Okay,” I thought to myself, “so,
it´s been opened and he´s just trying to get a few extra $$ by presenting it
this way,” But I still wanted him to know that I knew that it was not a virgin
box, “hmm that´s strange isn´t it!” I said as I showed him the evidence. Honestly though, at a third of the price, I
really didn´t care. I just wanted the
fountain of language knowledge this material was certain to provide.
He looked a bit puzzled and
explained that it was an unwanted gift from his Aunt. He wondered if she used
it before she gave it to him. He´d held onto the kit for a while with every
intention of using it, but he needed to buy books for university so decided to
sell it for some extra money.
I had decided to bring my laptop
with the hope we could just check the program and see if it worked properly. I motioned
my head to Jed suggesting that he load up his laptop.
Jed loaded up the machine. “Um,
do you mind if we just check that it works?” Jed asked, as I was inserting the
disk in the drive. “It´s just, ya know, Craig´s list and yep, we sort of wanna
make sure and all,” He continued as the disk whirled into action.
“Sure,” he replied politely.
Jed pressed the start button, whilst
simultaneously learning that the chap was a student at a nearby university who
liked action films, but hadn´t yet seen the newly released batman movie.
As I rifled through the box
looking for quick set up information, I caught the man checking his watch. The smile had an “oops how embarrassing” look
to it.
“I bet he is thinking, ´Who are
these people? Can´t they just hurry up and give me the money so I can continue living
my life.´” I thought to myself. But regardless of what he thought, he remained relaxed
and patient.
I shifted that awkward feeling I
had, moving aside the knowledge that we were burning up his precious time with
my pedantic actions.
The quick start showed the kit
required an activation code. I searched for this code; in the booklet, on the
box, inside the sleeve jacket, even the headset. By now, I was feeling like I really knew the
box, yet no activation code could be found.
Jed commented on something that
the disk displayed, I looked and said, “No, it´s okay, it´ll work fine”. “So, it looks like it´s all working then.” Jed
chirped.
The patient chap took this as his
cue. He started to stand up.
I interrupted his standing
position. “Okay, but we still need to
find the activation code. Without that
we won´t be able to use all the lessons.”
We commenced the search like a
SWAT team searching for drugs as we pulled the whole box and its contents
apart, the selling bloke even started to search – but the code was nowhere to
be found.
Jed called Rosetta Stone´s help
desk. He explained our situation. He looked at the headset then said “No,” He
passed the phone to the seller. There
were lots of “uh-huhs” and shifting of materials. The conversation was
terminated and the guy handed the phone back to Jed.
“Looks like it´s a fake,” he
muttered. “Mmm” replied Jed.
And with that we picked up our
bags and left him standing with his opened “never-been-opened box” fake Rosetta
Stone.
We laughed as we drove away, only
relieved that we hadn't thrown our money away and not feeling the slightest of
remorse for the inconvenience we'd just endured. It goes to show, there are
people all over God's green Earth, who seek to benefit themselves at the
detriment of others. Sad for them they don't live for more, as it is most
certainly better to give than receive.
