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Buying a helmet is extremely stressful at times.

I went back to Hung Hing in HK to purchase an Arai Helmet. Walking in, I ask to see several designs.

After about 20 minutes of choosing, I decide on the McCoy design, blue/white/orange. Not my favorite colour scheme if truth be told, I'll get to that in a minute.

So the lady told me that every new Arai helmet came with a pair of gloves worth $290 HKD - it was their gift to me.

"Great," I thought. "Free is good."

I bounded over nearly with glee, only to find out the gloves looked like snowmobile leather gloves from the 80s. I've had a pair before, when I was really hurting for some hand protection on my old bike, but frankly, I think the times have passed them by, style wise.

And I conveyed that to her. She understood. "well," she said in Cantonese. "You can use the $290 to upgrade to other gloves."

That would have been good, except I already have nice gloves, and the ones for sale were pretty expensive, so it wasn't worth it.

I then inquired how much an aftermarket helmet shield would cost. She replied, "$290."

Yes, I screamed in my head. "Hey, just give me the shield then for free, since it's the same price."

"No." She said sternly. "The 'gift' is for the gloves only."

I begged and cried, to no avail.

I then asked, "What else can I get besides the gloves?"

She pointed to a rack of T-shirts out in the back, already disinterested in me. I walked over, but they all cost more than the gloves, and I wasn't exactly ecstatic about the graphics. So why would I pay more for something I didn't want anyway?

I walked around some more, and spotted nice Arai T-shirts. I wanted one, and they were only $190 HKD.

I asked, "Hey, how about a T-shirt? It's less than the gloves."

"No."

"How about these shirts?" Pointing to something cooler.

"No."

I was pretty upset. I was getting cockblocked left, right and center. So I go, "I'm from out of town. I came here purposely to buy from you guys, and you ain't giving me a deal...."

"Everyone's from out of town."

So I leave. I walk down to another helmet store down the steet. I ask the lady: "Don't you sell Arais??"

"No. The store down the street is the sole distributor."

I grumble, walking back with my brother and Mom in tow, tail between my legs. I crawl back through the doors, make a bee-line to the McCoy, and asked for one in the box.

She hands it to me, and I said, head hung low: I'll take one of those ugly shirts. I'll pay the extra $40HKD.

"How do you want to pay?"

"With credit."

"Oh, in that case, we can't give you the gloves. That deal is only if you bring cash."

....Buying a helmet is extremely stressful at times. posted by losir at 12:08 AM