Am I overreacting?!! Christmas Gift situation~~

[gcgchica]

Hello all,

This is my first post. I registered because I had to get someone else's unbiased opinion who could relate to long distance relationships and various situations.

 

Long story short---

 

My so and I were not able to spend Christmas together, so I sent him a lot of gifts. One of the gifts was an Olympus digital camera.

 

Apparently he opened his gifts around family and when he unwrapped the Olympus camera, he and others stated that they had never heard of an Olympus brand digital camera. Then he said he took pictures and the pictures were horrible.

Then he continues on about how he had never heard of the Olympus brand...maybe it was a local brand...he's never seen any commercials...etc...etc.

 

Well, my feelings were hurt because I put a lot of time into selecting his gifts. My research stated that Olympus was a decent digital camera.

 

Anyway my being upset turned into this huge argument, and we ended up having this bad fight.

He said that brand names don't mean anything to him, however the fact that I had given him an Olympus camera, some unknown brand to him, was the first thing that came out of his mouth.

 

Had he just mentioned that his camera took horrible pictures then I would have been okay with that.

It shouldn't matter if the camera is an Olympus, Sony, Nikon, Kodak or whatever! I actually had purchased a Nikon but returned it to get the Olympus.

I told him that I would send him the gift receipt to exchange it for something else, but he said that's okay---don't worry about it and that he would keep it.

 

Please respond because this is really bothering me.

 

He said that this is the worst Christmas ever that he has spent with me---because of this argument over this camera.

 

Was I wrong for being upset?

[New_Life08]

I think he is a tad materialistic. He probably didn't even bother using the appropriate settings for the pics he was taking. Sounds to me like he was pissed because it wasn't the particular brand he wanted.

 

Yeah, I would feel offended.

[sweetjasmine]

I'm an amateur photographer, and, yes, Nikon and Canon are top-of-the-line, but Olympus isn't garbage. It's decent (at the very least), and unless you're a photographer, you're probably not going to notice any major differences.

 

I really don't think you're wrong for being upset, especially with the "NO, IT'S FINE, I'LL KEEP IT!" guilt-trip bit thrown in at the end. If he didn't like the brand, there were a million other ways of telling you that which wouldn't have hurt your feelings. He could've just said, "I took some pictures, and they came out bad. Maybe there's something wrong with this camera" but he made a big deal out of it being an Olympus camera as if you went out of your way to pick out some cheap piece of junk. What a jerk.

[gcgchica]

I think he is a tad materialistic. He probably didn't even bother using the appropriate settings for the pics he was taking. Sounds to me like he was pissed because it wasn't the particular brand he wanted.

 

Yeah, I would feel offended.

 

Thanks so much for your response!! I never thought the fact that the settings may have been off!

I have been terribly upset since our argument. I know this won't mean anything in 5 years, but right now my feelings are hurt. And on top of that I really hate that we had this his bad fight over it.

 

Again---thanks so much for your response!

[TaraMaiden]

The 'Olympus' is a good brand, and David Bailey advertised the 'Olympus Trip'... so he's being an ignorant jerk, because all he has to do is google the damn thing to know how good they are.

[sweetjasmine]

New_Life's point about the settings is a good one.

 

What kind of camera is it? And does he have experience with them? What did he mean by "horrible" -- blurry? Color quality? Resolution?

[gcgchica]

I'm an amateur photographer, and, yes, Nikon and Canon are top-of-the-line, but Olympus isn't garbage. It's decent (at the very least), and unless you're a photographer, you're probably not going to notice any major differences.

 

I really don't think you're wrong for being upset, especially with the "NO, IT'S FINE, I'LL KEEP IT!" guilt-trip bit thrown in at the end. If he didn't like the brand, there were a million other ways of telling you that which wouldn't have hurt your feelings. He could've just said, "I took some pictures, and they came out bad. Maybe there's something wrong with this camera" but he made a big deal out of it being an Olympus camera as if you went out of your way to pick out some cheap piece of junk. What a jerk.

 

exactly! And that was my main point to him!! I honestly would not have deliberately given him a gift that was trash.

 

Now he's making it seem like I have an screwed up attitude and that I'm making a big deal out of this.

Thank you so much for responding!

 

I am sitting here crying over all of this because I really put a lot of time, effort and advance planning in purchasing gifts for him.

I know that this will blow over eventually, but I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't blowing things out of proportions.

[gcgchica]

The 'Olympus' is a good brand, and David Bailey advertised the 'Olympus Trip'... so he's being an ignorant jerk, because all he has to do is google the damn thing to know how good they are.

 

Thanks for your response! I guess I needed extra assurance that I made the right decision in purchasing this brand of camera.

 

I thought that Olympus was a well known brand, but according to him, a person who is familiar with electronics, he swore that he had never heard of this brand before.

[gcgchica]

New_Life's point about the settings is a good one.

 

What kind of camera is it? And does he have experience with them? What did he mean by "horrible" -- blurry? Color quality? Resolution?

 

It's the Olympus 12 megapixel FE-4000.

 

He has experience with cameras. He has a Canon also. By horrible he said that when he took pictures everyone in the shots appeared to have acne in their faces.

So I assume the pics were blurry--or it could have been a resolution problem.

[TaraMaiden]

familiar with electronics, heh?

Oh well...

That makes him a nerd.

Whaddya expect??

 

:laugh:

[gcgchica]

familiar with electronics, heh?

Oh well...

That makes him a nerd.

Whaddya expect??

 

:laugh:

 

Yeah..he's definitely a nerd! LOL!

[Kamille]

I work in an office where we use a lot of digital equipment and we always have to do back up research (on quality, performance, etc) before buying any equipment.

 

Guess what... We have nothing but Olympus cameras.

 

What's more, a friend of mine is a professional photographer and... He also uses an Olympus camera.

 

My own personal camera is a Canon and, granted, it's not top of the line, but I don't love it. I'm waiting to be able to save up to buy a better performing camera. I might buy an Olympus, but I certainly won't buy a Canon.

 

Obviously your bf cares about brands - enough to ruin Christmas for the both of you.

[sweetjasmine]

It's the Olympus 12 megapixel FE-4000.

 

He has experience with cameras. He has a Canon also. By horrible he said that when he took pictures everyone in the shots appeared to have acne in their faces.

So I assume the pics were blurry--or it could have been a resolution problem.

 

Judging by the specs, it looks like a good digital camera.

 

As for the "acne in their faces" problem, that kind of reminds me of some of the weird things that happen with flash settings. The flash on digital cameras is sometimes really, really strong, and the brightness of the light can distort things. I guess it could also be a problem with the display screen on the camera itself.

 

In any case, the camera you picked isn't bad at all, and your boyfriend is being a jerk in making you feel like sh-t about it all. You didn't mess up or do anything wrong.

[gcgchica]

I work in an office where we use a lot of digital equipment and we always have to do back up research (on quality, performance, etc) before buying any equipment.

 

Guess what... We have nothing but Olympus cameras.

 

What's more, a friend of mine is a professional photographer and... He also uses an Olympus camera.

 

My own personal camera is a Canon and, granted, it's not top of the line, but I don't love it. I'm waiting to be able to save up to buy a better performing camera. I might buy an Olympus, but I certainly won't buy a Canon.

 

Obviously your bf cares about brands - enough to ruin Christmas for the both of you.

 

Thank you very much for your response Kamille! All of my research shows that Olympus is a good brand. I just found it strange that he said that he had never heard of the Olympus brand.

Thanks again for your input.

[2sunny]

Thanks for your response! I guess I needed extra assurance that I made the right decision in purchasing this brand of camera.

 

I thought that Olympus was a well known brand, but according to him, a person who is familiar with electronics, he swore that he had never heard of this brand before.

 

i'm sure the camera was a fine choice... it's the man that needs to be thrown out like he's yesterday's garbage... he's a TOTAL jerk!

 

what an ungrateful jerk. i hate to ask but what did he give you?

[gcgchica]

Judging by the specs, it looks like a good digital camera.

 

As for the "acne in their faces" problem, that kind of reminds me of some of the weird things that happen with flash settings. The flash on digital cameras is sometimes really, really strong, and the brightness of the light can distort things. I guess it could also be a problem with the display screen on the camera itself.

 

In any case, the camera you picked isn't bad at all, and your boyfriend is being a jerk in making you feel like sh-t about it all. You didn't mess up or do anything wrong.

 

Thank you sweetjasmine.

I'm not an expert on cameras, and I know that there are much better cameras out there, but I felt that this particular camera was decent, and in the price range that I was trying to stay within.

 

Thank you to everyone for your responses!! I am still truly upset right now, but I'll be alright.

[gcgchica]

i'm sure the camera was a fine choice... it's the man that needs to be thrown out like he's yesterday's garbage... he's a TOTAL jerk!

 

what an ungrateful jerk. i hate to ask but what did he give you?

 

Thanks for responding sunny!

 

I received some decent gifts: a set of luggage that I had been wanting for awhile, a necklace, watch, Target gift card and some perfume.

[2sunny]

Thanks for responding sunny!

 

I received some decent gifts: a set of luggage that I had been wanting for awhile, a necklace, watch, Target gift card and some perfume.

 

ok, so why would you want to be with a man that acts that selfish and ungrateful... to the extent of purposely hurting your feelings?

[gcgchica]

ok, so why would you want to be with a man that acts that selfish and ungrateful... to the extent of purposely hurting your feelings?

 

Excellent questions that I will reflect on, because I don't want to take unnecessary issues into 2010.

 

Thanks again so much for your response!

[Kamille]

Thank you very much for your response Kamille! All of my research shows that Olympus is a good brand. I just found it strange that he said that he had never heard of the Olympus brand.

Thanks again for your input.

 

Olympus is European-owned if I remember correctly. Could this explain why he never heard of it? (If you live in the States for instance).

[gcgchica]

Olympus is European-owned if I remember correctly. Could this explain why he never heard of it? (If you live in the States for instance).

 

I have no idea.

We are in the States, but he has traveled extensively abroad, so I'm not sure how he has never heard of it.

[DanielH]

He sounds like an ungrateful dickhead. Cameras are a lot of money and I would never complain if someone were to give me one.

[Outcast]

He's a horse's butt. Olympus is one of the top manufacturers; their lenses are fantastic. He behaved like a spoiled baby. He knows nothing about cameras, BTW, if he's never heard of Olympus. Do you really want to stick with this rude, ungrateful blowhard?

[You'reasian]

Hello all,

This is my first post. I registered because I had to get someone else's unbiased opinion who could relate to long distance relationships and various situations.

 

Long story short---

 

My so and I were not able to spend Christmas together, so I sent him a lot of gifts. One of the gifts was an Olympus digital camera.

 

Apparently he opened his gifts around family and when he unwrapped the Olympus camera, he and others stated that they had never heard of an Olympus brand digital camera. Then he said he took pictures and the pictures were horrible.

Then he continues on about how he had never heard of the Olympus brand...maybe it was a local brand...he's never seen any commercials...etc...etc.

 

Well, my feelings were hurt because I put a lot of time into selecting his gifts. My research stated that Olympus was a decent digital camera.

 

Anyway my being upset turned into this huge argument, and we ended up having this bad fight.

He said that brand names don't mean anything to him, however the fact that I had given him an Olympus camera, some unknown brand to him, was the first thing that came out of his mouth.

 

Had he just mentioned that his camera took horrible pictures then I would have been okay with that.

It shouldn't matter if the camera is an Olympus, Sony, Nikon, Kodak or whatever! I actually had purchased a Nikon but returned it to get the Olympus.

I told him that I would send him the gift receipt to exchange it for something else, but he said that's okay---don't worry about it and that he would keep it.

 

Please respond because this is really bothering me.

 

He said that this is the worst Christmas ever that he has spent with me---because of this argument over this camera.

 

Was I wrong for being upset?

 

Sounds like he's being waaay to picky.

 

Tell him that its the thought that counts and if it doesn't register, he can forget about it. Plain rude.

[SuburbanOblivion]

Olympus and Sony pioneered the digital camera movement when Nikon and Canon were still stuck on film cameras. I'll skip the history lesson, and just say your boyfriend is a technological retard and you can quote me on that.

 

Sara (who has owned digital cameras since they first came out, and thinks Olympus is one of the best.)