ring ring ring banana-phone

I really think that phones nowadays are designed to die every two years. Just as my current ol' faithful flippy phone, started frustrating me with it's short battery life and I was starting to get a bit forlorn about the scratches it had accumulated in the past 23 months - I received a letter today from 3 who told me I was eligible now for an earlybird upgrade!

I was quite excited as just today at lunchtime I went to the 3 store in the city to check out how long I had left on my contract (they told me one month) and what potential phones could be my next ol faithful for the coming 24 months. So the timing of this little letter could not have come at a better time.

I have my eyes set on the LG Shine phone...

Phone-wise it is pretty standard, but the cool feature is that the screen is a mirror when the phone is idle. It is the ultimate girl's phone - sleek, multi-functional (need for mirror is eliminated and subsequently, the load of the hefty handbag is lightened) and appealing to the vanity within! hahaha! But it is pretty cool I reckon.

My plan (after discussing at length with Juls - ex-3-saleslady-extraordinaire) is to go to a dealer and ask for a deal (like a free car charger) and then go back to a 3 store and see if they can better it. My onl problem is that I am a big old sucker when it comes to buying stuff. I will walk in to a store and as soon as the salesman/woman says the price - I will reply promptly - 'do you have eftpos?'. I don't think about asking for extras or about bargaining - in short, I am every salesman/woman's dream consumer.

For example, when I joined 3 for the first time I pretty much just signed up - I thought it was good enough that they gave me a choice of colours! I found out later (from Juls again) that I could have scammed a whole lot of stuff from them if I had just asked! Maybe I am just too impulsive or too 'pai seh' to ask for the little extras. The fear of man has the better of me once again - we'll see how I go with the phone thing eh?