Robbed Blind for a Bathroom

We were fleeced in the good old days of the Celtic Tiger. Now that we are in the middle of the greatest recession/depression – call it what you like- you get to see how in most categories of consumer buying, we got screwed by businesses and tradesmen.

The worst offenders were those selling services and equipment in the home. During the boom, we had the bad timing to decide to do up our bathroom. The one we had was ancient and I had to agree with missus that for once she was right about spending some money on the room.
We had one awful coloured bathroom suites that were all the rage in eighties when we built our house. It was a tacky green colour and when I look at it now I wonder how in Gods name we ever bought it.
But of course, they were all the rage then so you went with the flow. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Any way we still had some of the SSIA money saved up so off we went to one of these retail parks that had everything for the home. There were all sorts of big stores offering tiles, furniture, kitchens, hot tubs and garden equipment. And, of course, bathrooms.

This was in 2006 and we didn’t know then that we were at the very peak of the boom. You could hardly get into any of the stores such were the crowds.
Plastic was being flashed here, there and everywhere. Nobody was actually paying any cash – everything was going on the card. We felt like doddery fools with our humble cheque-book.

It being the house, herself had first call on what she wanted. There were all sorts of glossy stuff, such as free-standing baths, whirlpool baths and an incredible range of must-have accessories. And all in white, thank God. No more dazzling colours to fight over, at least
Of course, there was the price to fight over. I couldn’t believe the prices they were charging. Crazy money, away in excess of our budget!
We tried a few more places but they were all the same. It seemed to me that a cartel was in operation between them all. And you could forget about negotiation – there was none, simple as that. That’s the price, take it or leave it you were told by a snotty guy in a suit who rolled his eyes to Heaven if we mentioned looking at something cheaper.

That same guy is today walking the streets in ragged clothes which is a small consolation to us for the ridiculous price we ended up paying for our new bathroom suite.
The store we bough this suite is now long closed – I guess the owner is in the Caribbean- and whilst our bathroom looks lovely and the missus is very contented, it pains me when I walk by a bathroom store now and see the same suite at a fraction of the price we paid.

That is just a small example of the outrageous profiteering that went in the last crazy decade. At least we only bought a bathroom, not a house like so many unfortunate others.
It was all mad stuff, wasn’t it?
We lost the run of ourselves completely, like we were all in a gold rush. Madness!

Ah well, I think I’ll just go and have a warm bath to get rid of the stress of thinking about the money we lost during those crazy years!