The Price is . . . . Somewhat Skewed

We were enjoying Jeff Corwin on Animal Planet tonight when Megan protested and said she wanted to watch something else. To prove to her there was nothing else worth watching, I started to flip through our few channels, and found that The Price is Right was playing.

My kids have never seen this show, and I felt that I owed it to their American citizenship to expose them to at least one episode. As with the Olympics, the barrage of questions about the show was almost too much, "Why is he running down there mommy? Does she get all three cars? How much is that one? Why is she shaking? What's so funny? What does that mean? How do they play this game?"

What really got me though was how completely OFF I was on guessing prices. I think it's a combination of seeing everything at import prices for years, plus the absence of generic or less expensive brands. One woman had to guess a fondu pot, a cheeseburger phone, and a blender. I thought, "At least $40 for the fondu pot, but maybe it's nice. It could be $80. How much does a cheeseburger phone sell for? Would people pay $100 for it? That blender looks sweet. I just priced a blender recently. I bet that one goes for $150." She guessed $29, $25, and $40 respectively. She wasn't off by more than $10 on any of them. Wow, I stink at this.

This gives me hope that someday when I move back to the States, there will still be things I can afford. This gives me NO hope, on the other hand, that I could ever win on The Price is Right.