1 year picture

Man, that is a good looking kid.

So, funny story about this picture. We decided to get a semi-professional one year picture taken. There is a place, not far from our house, at a mall (very similar to kiddie kandids for the Utah readers), that we had been told does a nice job with children's pictures called "Portrait Innovations". Recently, they ran a special for $9.95 where you could get a few prints of a single image. We thought "perfect" we were only looking for a head shot (like the one pictured above) and it was only 10 bucks. We walked in and told the "photographer" what we wanted. The girl proceeded to spend what seemed like eternity taking a plethora of pictures, in varied poses, with a wide variety of props, in addition to this little gem. we finally stopped her and stated for a second time that we were only interested in a head shot for $9.95. This brainiac then sits us down at the computer and tells us about the "packages" they have that would get us "more for your money". Initially I thought "I like to get more for my money, let's hear it." She immediately tried to up sell us a package bargain priced at a little over $430.00. At this point I walked away muttering things about this girl's intelligence under my breath. (Anyone who knows me, could probably guess the general theme and vernacular that I would choose to express my malcontent in this situation). My patient wife, sat and told the salesgirl what we wanted around 417 times. each time the salesgirl would take off a couple prints and quote us a new price, slightly lower than the last. For 30 minutes we went round and round. We were told that we were "going to loose these smiles forever" and asked if we "really valued the memories of our child". I had to remove myself from the situation to avoid what would likely have been an ill advised, verbal shellacking that would have made Yosemite Sam blush. The girl was so condescending and rude about the whole thing that I was amazed she didn't have a black eye from being told what a great sales girl she was. In the end, we finally had the picture that we wanted and the girl asked us to click a box allowing the "studio" to use our photos for their advertising. My angel wife politely declined. The girl came back with "We would really appreciate it, if you would click here" and moved the cursor to the box. Courtney again refused. The persistent little sales girl again insisted, at this point Courtney asked for me to weigh in on the whole box clicking thing. I had been biting my tongue to avoid embarrassing myself and my sweet wife by laying into this little moron. As opposed to the norm, where Courtney attempts to insulate me away from these situations, I was being invited to share my thoughts. I was so shocked that I simply said "NO". In retrospect, I am proud that I was able to resist the temptation to start yelling, but disappointed that I didn't take advantage of the opportunity that I was afforded. In the end, we got what we went in for, and the picture turned out nice, but I thought the story was worth telling, even with the anticlimactic ending.

Boley