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You fought the crowd for that?

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  • You fought the crowd for that?

    Hi all,

    long time lurker, finally signed up.


    My company sells a very specialized home improvement item, with or without professional installation. (Sorry to be mysterious, but it's so specialized that being specific about what it is would probably identify me to anyone in the industry.) It really is the top-of-the-line product, and we do a brisk business replacing competitors' products.

    We also work a lot of trade shows, home & garden shows and the like. Some of my co-workers really like working them. I don't, but due to my seniority, product knowledge, regular use of soap, razors etc. but especially due to my talent for faking being a 'people person' I get assigned to a lot of them. There's some fun to be had, of course, just people watching, and a home & garden show is one heck of a target-rich environment for anyone looking for material to post in the "sightings" area!

    The last one of these I worked was really busy. Jam-packed with slow moving people meandering from one booth to another, leaving a trail of the ludicrously overpriced, ptomaine-laden, food-like substances they'd purchased at the various snack stands for (evidently) the sole purpose of spilling everywhere they went. Maybe they're leaving a trail they can follow to find their way back out, like Hansel & Gretel?

    So there I am, surrounded by potential customers asking, one after another, the same freaking questions, when I notice a smallish, slender man who looked to be in his fifties struggling to get through the stream of people walking the aisle between booths, then struggling to get through the crowd of people in my booth just to get to me. He politely waited for me to finish talking, then beckons for me to lean down so he can speak privately to me. I oblige. He whispers that he used to have my product in his home, but he'd recently replaced it with a competitor's, which he thought was a much better product. He was not angry, or nasty, in fact he beamed at me with a near-angelic smile and dove back into the stream of people.

    So there I stand, scratching my head, thinking WTF!? He obviously wasn't a rep for the competitor, since he whispered his tale to me, rather than announce it loudly for all to hear, and I happen to know that the product with which he's so tickled is crap compared to ours, (or even compared to a good knock-off of ours) because I've replaced about a hundred of them with ours, but mainly I can't figure out why this little old guy would fight his way through a river of humanity, push and pull and wriggle through them all, just to tell me he didn't like my company's product?
    Last edited by Grumpy; 07-23-2008, 06:29 AM. Reason: Tried to fix the smiley. Also "petter" isn't a word.

  • #2


    Now, don't try to explain it off. If you've lurked as long as you say, you know that trying to delve into that man's brain could enlarge the black hole and kill us all.
    "That's too bad. Hospitals aren't fun to fight through."
    "What IS fun to fight through?"
    "Gardens. Electronics shops. Antique stores, but only if they're classy."

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    • #3
      True, that way lies madness. (I see I need to figure out how to properly add smilies.)

      Comment


      • #4
        He probably thought it was worth it, for the PRINCIPLE of the matter, you know, the same folks who threaten to rack up $5,000+ in legal bills to dispute a .04 overcharge?
        - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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        • #5
          Quoth Grumpy View Post
          True, that way lies madness. (I see I need to figure out how to properly add smilies.)
          Either click on the smiley, or click "More" and it'll open up a window with the codes for them, which you can click as well, or just memorize. That text-code is why you'll occasionally see random s in dialogue. The code for is : o without the space in the middle.



          Also, more on topic... you should know Becky by now, and one of her trademarked phrases is:

          If it makes sense, it's not allowed™
          ...WHY DO YOU TEMPT WHAT LITTLE FAITH IN HUMANITY I HAVE!?! -- Kalga
          And I want a pony for Christmas but neither of us is getting what we want OK! What you are asking is impossible. -- Wicked Lexi

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          • #6
            Quoth Grumpy View Post
            True, that way lies madness. (I see I need to figure out how to properly add smilies.)
            As long as you're not in Sparta, you should be good. :P

            (Sorry, this was a very very poor joke.)
            "I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."

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            • #7
              Quoth KhirasHY View Post
              Now, don't try to explain it off. If you've lurked as long as you say, you know that trying to delve into that man's brain could enlarge the black hole and kill us all.

              Wow, that made me almost end up with grapes up my nose from snorting with laughter. Can I steal that line?

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