My worst purchase?
Although it was my parents who ultimately footed the bill, I could ultimately say yes or no. Of course, with a bit of criticism from my parents' part, of course...and arguing.
Badminton classes.
Ruined the sport for me. Around 8-10 years old of age. I'm 19 years old, BTW.
All I wanted was just a simple activity to keep fit. But well, parents taught I was going to become a weakling, as I was a more bookish person, so I got sent to one.
It was more catered for training competitive players, rather than leisure.
Terrible environment. Met lots of hotshots who were more interested in showing off their badminton skills than to engage in progressive training and to offer help to newbies. One of the older kids bullied me all the day by challenging me to matches I couldn't win. Like a jackass, I complied, given that at such a young age, I didn't understand concepts of EQ. But that's another story. However, great programs shouldn't encourage this sentiment in the first place.
Lots of group think among the more skilled fellows of the badminton class. Plus, the coach was too laissez-faire to be of any significant impact to my performance.
If I wanted a leisure sports meetup, I should have gone to a meetup.com event. But well, spending power was up to my parents at that time. And how would they know of such online amenities? They picked the coach based on some recommendations, but I don't think they checked it pretty well.
I made sure in the future that I had my own means to take care of my own fitness.
These days I jog, climb more stairs instead of the lift and swim. Free of charge, and yes, once in a while, I run into great people willing to talk about great experiences in life.
Piano lessons from a regular instructor.
I didn't find many Asian classical music creations. I wondered why. Couldn't we Asians create music on our own, as opposed to doing the same Western classic rehash?
Then I found out the hard way.
Long story short, I had an instructor that drilled me into playing piano, repeating pieces over and over again without meaning. I didn't get to understand why the musical piece was created, based on the context of that era's time and vital arpeggios or scales that made the backbone of the music piece. It was mostly, 'Finish this piece up or you will fail.'
I was strictly taught based on doing 'what' rather than 'why'. Memorise the notes, rinse and repeat. No purpose.
How should I feel the need for music, besides satisfying my Asian parents? I wasn't taught on how music can be related to my
goals. Did I really need to be a musician? Or did I need to learn music in order to have it as a hobby? Can my education in music help people? Make them happy, hardworking, concentrated?
I don't think that the instructor was at fault here. I just didn't have the need (or
FTE, for a stronger word) to learn up the technical aspects of music.
Later, I found that learning music wasn't supposed to be that restrictive.
I found that I shouldn't have been shoving musical notes down my head. Instead, I have to rely on my ears to learn music, just as a chief relies on his ability to taste to create fantastic dishes. And yes, have meaning and purpose for playing music.
I picked up my piano again when I found meaning and purpose. That meaning and purpose changed across a few years. I played for church briefly, then for band as a trumpeter, and then for my girl, when I got tired of the conventional crap of giving shop-bought gifts to her.
I learned from a church piano training program. I looked up on the Internet and hit up forums. Some YouTube videos. Free or dirt cheap. And minus the instructor pressure.
Lessons learned
I probably wasn't qualified for the value that these courses brought me. My personality, as well as my personal motivations for making those purchases didn't make the cut.
And these things weren't exactly hard necessities like bread and butter. They were more of enrichment programs, and of course, their value can be very subjective.
Of course, though, they also had flaws of their own. Both the value providers and I didn't fit in together ultimately.
Should the value provider adjust itself to provide better value, or should the customer adjust himself to enjoy the product or service better?
Typically in a selfish market, it is the norm for companies to do more of the work adjusting themselves and perfecting gaps in service offerings. However, if the customer ends up screaming that the drink is not sweet when he has not even shaken it as instructed, there might be an issue.
Which brings me to a story I just heard recently on the perception of value:
'
There was once a king who wanted to taste the tastiest dish of all. So he asked his adviser, Mugrim, to bring him the tastiest dish of all.
Mugrim said, 'The tastiest dish is hunger. When you are full, no food can satisfy you. But when you are starving, even dry bread is tasty to you.'
WTF? It wasn't even that good.
But then again their games do have a negative EV, so I can only blame myself.
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