I have spent part of the last two weeks complaining about the occasional lack of air-conditioning at my office. A new AC unit was installed earlier this summer for my portion of the building at work. Last week marked the 7th or 8th day the AC has been out at work this summer. Apparently the new unit is too big for our existing ductwork or we need new coils (I don’t think the HVAC really knows). The temperature in my office typically reaches the mid to upper 80s by the end of a day with no AC. I have tried not to make a big stink (despite the fact I’m paranoid that I do in fact stink after spending all day in an 80 degree plus office) but I have taken the opportunity to engage in some passive aggressive complaining. I occasionally send a text picture of the thermometer in my office to the guy in head of maintenance. I also make sure to loudly voice comments about how hot it is in my office whenever I walk through administration. I’m not proud of this behavior but when the fine folks in administration tell me they feel my pain while they cover up their vents because they are too cold in their offices, I let the heat induced irritability get the best of me.
After going home on these days, stripping to my skivvies, and standing over the AC vents in my house (which work by the way), I stop twitching impulsively and am able to gain a little perspective. During these cool moments of lucidity, I begin to think about what it is like for people who work outside on such days, what it is like for people who don’t have AC to go home to, or people who have never experienced the cool breeze of conditioned air. If I close my eyes, I can even hear my grandfather saying something like, “We didn’t have air conditioning when I was your age and we liked it”. I seem to recall him taking advantage of air conditioning when he had it in later years, but I think we all get what he was saying. Sadly, I must also admit during these moments of my heat induced irritability, I have also fantasized about whether or not people would subject Freud of Jung to such heat which in turn leads me to trying to figure out who I would cast in the TV show I am writing about a group mental health practice called “Jung and the Restless”. Thankfully, I can usually count of my clients saying something like, “Dr. Drury? Are you even listening to me?” to rescue me from my heat induced daydreams.
I have digressed rather egregiously but air conditioning is only one of multiple examples of the luxuries we take as necessary to make us content in our society. I heard a statistic this past weekend that in the 1970s the average grocery store stocked 9,000 products on its shelves. Today the average grocery store stocks over 30,000 products on its shelves. The next time you go to the grocery store, take a moment and stand in awe of the choices available to you. Let’s take bottled water for example (the concept of which I still have a hard time understanding). In 2003, bottled water accounted for $7 billion in sales. I try to imagine what it must have been like the first time someone brought up the idea of selling bottled water in a sales meeting.
CEO of Drink Company: Johnson, what have you and your team come up with for our next product line?
Johnson: Well sir, we believe there is an untapped market for water.
CEO: What? You are telling me you propose we sell people something they can get for free from faucets or water fountains?
Johnson: Yes sir. I know it sounds weird sir, but we are convinced that if we take tap water, put it in fancy, decorative bottles, tell people that it is healthy, that it is fresh, that it helps the environment, or will make them sexy, we believe people will buy bottled water in droves.
CEO: That is the stupidest idea I have ever heard. I guess the next thing you are going to tell me is that people in the future will be willing to pay for other people to wash their cars, change their oil, clean their houses, and mow their lawns. Johnson, why do you think people are going to pay for something they can easily get or do themselves?
I don’t know if this conversation happened or not but I do think that similar conversations happen every day in companies trying to figure out how to sell us things we really don’t need. I think the following quote by Dave Ramsey captures what I am trying to say very well, “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like”. A quick Google search reveals the following reasons of why we buy things we don’t need: we focus on instant gratification, we are bored, we are lonely, out of habit, to impress others, to address feelings of low self-esteem, it is recreation, and our culture tells us we are worth what we own.
I believe that a large part of the collapse of our economy over the last year does indeed have a great deal to do with the notion that we are buying things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t really like. How many people driving around in these Hummers really need a vehicle originally designed for the Army to serve in war zones? Does anyone really need a ringtone of MC Hammer’s “You Can’t Touch This” to let you know your phone is ringing? Do I really need 250 satellite channels when there is nothing on the 120 cable channels I have now? Is that $6 double mocha reconstituted caramel low fat milk latte really what you need to start your day? Does my wife really need a $35 Longaberger basket to put pencils in or a $45 Longaberger basket for recipes (are these baskets secretly made of crack cocaine? I don’t understand). And does anyone need to pay for a David Hasselhoff app let alone know what David Hasselhoff thinks or is doing. I’m sure each of you could add your own examples to this list quite easily.
In the interest of full disclosure, I drive a 95 Dodge Neon, I don’t use ringtones (I enjoy the vibration!), I have the second tier cable package, I don’t drink coffee or lattes but I do drink insane amounts of Mt. Dew, we do own the $45 Longaberger recipe box, and I don’t have the David Hasselhoff app on my i-phone.
What do you buy that you don’t really need with money you don’t really have to impress people you don’t really like?
Originally written by Jeff Drury August 2010
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