Sony's new invisible MP3 player.

So at the Sony Store, there is this cool little MP3 player that not only plays music, but it also dances to the beat it is playing. It has little flaps on each end of it and they flap and spin around as it plays whatever song - it's pretty cool. Really expensive, but whatever. The thing with them is they can dance their way right off your table if you aren't careful. So we have ours that is out on display on a podium. Of course when you're in an electronics store even the display has to look modern and cool, so naturally it does. It is literally the first thing that you see when you come into the store. They call the MP3 player "Rolly". Okay, you good?...here is where things get hilarious.

I'm having a lousy day at work. There are no customers, I've got very little to do; most people just want to be left alone and look around at stuff. Rolly is having a bad day too because someone dropped him, and now he's paralyzed from the flaps out. So all he can do now is play songs, and well that makes for a lame display. So the girl at the front desk is in the back with Rolly and my manager and they are trying to fix him. I notice no one is at the front desk to greet people as they enter the store, so I walk up there.

Standing by the Rolly's display is a young couple. I can hear them talking to each other very quietly as they are trying to figure out just what this conical looking blue stand apparatus does. The guy is squatting down looking under it for wires, buttons, anything. The girl he was with is doing the same, and I hear her say "What is this thing?"

So with a straight face, in a matter of fact tone I say "It's an invisible MP3 player". Then I wait for the reaction.

The guy looks at me and you can see the shock in his eyes. I mean he was speechless. It was like he had been waiting for someone to invent an invisible MP3 player for years and now it was finally here! His girlfriend looked just as amazed, and spoke up with all the disbelief she had just one word, "REALLY????". She then looked down the invisible invention, and waved her hand over the center of the podium, trying to touch it.

As she's doing this I say "No. It's this little MP3 player but somebody dropped it. My manager is in the back trying to fix it."

Luckily they both had a sense of humor and admitted that I got them good. I let them save face by making some joke about how advanced technology is and an invisible MP3 player isn't completely unfathomable anymore. They agreed, laughed some more, then decided that was enough technology they could handle today and left.

Nobody bought anything from me that entire day, but the looks on those people's faces was totally worth the price of admission. The thing that troubles me about this is, had there actually been an invisible piece of electronic equipment sitting there...and this girl actually hit it, and knocked it off the table. . .well didn't she think about that before taking a swing?! I mean, Rolly is pricey now. I'm sure his invisibile paint job would really sky rocket his MSRP.

Oh well. Life shouldn't be taken too seriously.