Single Share Suckage

As part of my holiday push to get out and get wacky in Canadia, I had been hunting down info on a scenic train ride into the Canadian Rockies. After a lot of back and forthing with a travel agent, I finally went in to book myself a seat on the final choo choo of the year, departing Vancouver on December the 27th. After waiting for half my lunch break for the spectacularly dim consultant to fumble about and find the package I wanted, and the other half for her to get the package company on the phone, at the final possible moment, she says "Oh, this price is for twin share. That's right, isn't it?"

As soon as she said those words, I knew I was screwed, and I started getting angry. Not because it was Christmas and she was rubbing it in that I'm a single guy booking a holiday by myself, but because a critical part of my holiday, the price, was about to get a bling bling makeover. Sure enough, a few taps on her keyboard and my holiday went from $500 (pricey, but doable) to $1000 (stupidly expensive, like a gold plated toothbrush). Right at that precise moment, a little voice inside me whispered "Just pay it man, it'll be cool", which is completely understandable. I had sunk time, effort and headspace into this decision. I had checked my holidays, weighed the costs and made my plans. The idea was alive inside my mind, so destroying it was quite difficult. I managed to do it, though.

I have heard this is a sales technique, stringing the buyer along until they're completely immersed in an idea, and then bumping the price up at the last minute, when they just can't bear to say no. In all honesty, I don't give the people in the travel agency that much credit. They have difficulty telling their asses from a six-foot spraypainted mural of Bob Marley. Either way though, I need a new holiday.