Things That Make You Ask WHY… (Part Two)

The next day, bright and early, we arrived at the show. This is when the next series of “ask Why” started. It began when we were about to order ordered food. Two bottles of pop were going to cost us about $9.00 and a hamburger the same. Why do the food prices need to be so high? Is it because the food vendors have a captive audience and can charge as much as they like because people need to eat and are willing pay the high prices or, is because the facility owner charges the food vendors so much that they have to charge that much to make a decent profit. Perhaps it’s a combination of both. Whatever the answer it still makes you “ask WHY”. The most shocking “WHY” came when I tried to access the Internet! I just wanted to check my e-mails and do some work on my website during downtimes in the show. When I tried to log on, I got a message giving me to phone to arrange access. Instead of phoning, I walked to the facility office in the complex to arrange for access. I asked the girl in the office what I needed to do. She told me that there was a charge for access. I asked “how much” and she told me “750”. I said naively “$7.50”. She said “No sir that would be $750.00”. I could not believe what I had just so I asked her to repeat what she had said. The girl, a little embarrassed now, repeated the amount “$750.00”. I asked her “how they could justify such a price”. She shrugged her shoulders and said “I am sorry sir but that is the cost”. That was the end of our conversation. Needless to say I didn’t purchase access. So this brings me to my final “ask WHY”. How can they possibly justify charging this much? High speed wireless can be purchased for one year for less than half that price. I can understand charging that amount or more to a large corporation who needs a complicated installation, but all they needed to do for me, and others like me, is give me access through a username and password. Hotels do this for their customers all the time and don’t charge for it. Ultimately, it just makes you ask why!