Electric razor

My electric razor ground to a halt last week after about 20 years, so I realized I needed a new one. For such a minor appliance I don't do on-line research, so I went to the BIG market center in the new industrial area in Netanya and went to Ace hardware where they sell that kind of thing. There they had only a Remington model at ca. 500 shekels, so I thought I'd try elsewhere. I asked the assistant where else they sell such things and he suggested try the supermarket, Supersol (that Israelis call Shufersal, it's the same spelling in Hebrew without the vowel dots). So I went there, and indeed they had a case that contained electric razors. They were all made by Philips and there were 4 models from ca. 250 to 500 shekels. The assistant tried to sell me the most expensive version, so I asked him what was the difference between them and he said there was really none, so I chose the least expensive one. I took it home and I thought I was a clever buyer.

When I opened the box and took it out I thought it looked very nice, but when I went to use it I discovered that it did not have a trimmer. No trimmer! For someone with a beard this was unacceptable! So I went to retrieve the box and bags that it had been packaged in, but Naomi, being so efficient, had already thrown them in the trash. So I fished them out of the trash downstairs and cleaned them, and a few days later I returned with the repackaged shaver, and asked to replace it with one with a trimmer. However, the word for trimmer that I had looked up was apparently not the word used by actual Hebrew-speakers. Anyway, after the assistant understood me it appeared that I had a choice of three other models, except one of which he was out of. The assistant tried again to sell me the most expensive one, but I chose the next model with a trimmer, that cost 350 shekels.

After getting it home and taking it out of the package I realized that this one did not have a rechargeable battery, it only worked when plugged in! Who could have imagined this? This was unacceptable to a throughly modern man. It was also labelled "reconditioned" in several languages, that I realized meant it was not actually new (even though it had a one year warranty). So the next day I took it back to the store and the assistant looked at me with a triumphant glow and said "see I told you you should have taken the best one!" Which I then puchased for 500 shekels, although I could not confirm that it was rechargeable and/or had a trimmer, because it was cleverly encased in a plastic bubble that revealed nothing, nevertheless I once again assumed the best, and this time, after cutting it out of its non-returnable casing, I found that it did indeed have both a trimmer and a rechargeable battery.

This really happened, I do not make things up (not often anyway), and the moral of the story is either buy the first sample you find or try not to be so damn credulous.