Do not judge the money in my pocket by my clothes

[earl colby pottinger]

For a production

A friend of mine walked into a vintage clothing store and was immediately approached by an employee who felt compelled to tell her, "We don't have anything in your size." Apparently, the employee hadn't considered that some women who are over size 14 buy gifts for their friends and relatives.

Idiot, what if the person is the buyer for a play or movie and needs to buy outfits for 50-100 people. She could be turning down the biggest sale of her life.

I know before we got our first government school contract that our salesman talked to a someone who just wandered off the streets. Turns out the person was the new tech for a new Magnet School that was just being built, he ended up in the long run buying 25 Macs, A/V equipment and sound equipment for music lab. I was not involved so I don't know how much money but it was a lot.

[Crossbow]

There is absolutely no reason to feel bad for this receptionist. She brought the results down onto herself. Nobody's going to get fired for a first infraction like that, no matter how often we fantasize about it.

Wish I could say it was an isolated idiot, though. I've seen it as well. My wife and I and two friends went to an art gallery showing several years ago, where a fairly high-profile artist was doing sketches and signings. Gallery specialized in sci-fi and fantasy art. We were all dressed in jeans/geek t-shirts. The gallery owner and receptionist both took one look at us and dismissed us as not rich enough to bother with. Big mistake. I'm not wealthy by any means, but I can spend money when the desire hits me, and one of the two friends IS fairly wealthy and spends a ridiculous amount on art annually.

Even better was when the artist-in-residence saw my other friend, who was a friend of his as well. When he interrupts his lecture to run over and give her a hug, the look of terror on the owner's face was priceless...

We won't go into how this idiot claimed he sold nothing but original pieces, but we caught him selling copies... That gallery didn't last long.

[Antares]

WOW yea she fucked up bad. Asking a specific sales person would clue me into looks and potential are not equal. Plus regardless- think it, never say it.

There are the new car dealer stories like this, guy shows up in a beat up dirty truck, looks as beat up and dirty. Salesman blows him off, goes to other dealer to pay cash, or buy trucks for his company that does rough dirty work.

There was a salesman I had a long business relationship that related a story like that. I thanked him for always taking time to talk to me even though I usually showed up wearing swim trunks, sandals and a T-shirt. Said he learned his lesson early on dealing with a customer no one else wanted to deal with. Told me the guy ended up buying 5 cars from him that week. Whether true or not, he still took time to work with me even though I looked like I couldn't afford to buy anything.

[Slave to the Phone]

And I'm positive this woman doesn't believe she did anything wrong, the store fired her for no reason, she's smarter than everyone and will just walk into another better paying job in one day. If nobody wants to hire her, then it's because they're stupid.

Good for that store to not let a horrid employee like that stick around!

I am quite sure that you are right. She wasn't crying and begging for her job, she was threatening lawsuits for wrongful termination and sexual harassment at the top of her lungs.

As to our bedroom sets, we are doing 3 rooms. Ours, my sweetie's father's room and the guest room. I called my guy and ordered 2 high chests, 2 dressers, 3 headboards and a wonderful 6 foot tall bookcase with glass doors. (I does love my books)

Everything is light oak, solid and well constructed. Smooth panels because I don't like dusting small crevices, rounded and curved edges because one of us tends to walk into things and low to the floor because we have a blind cat who might get lost if he walked under walked under something higher. Poor guy does have problems with chairs.

With the golden color, it shines in the light.

This is the last and only time I have ever been able to outfit an entire home with beautiful good quality furniture. Its good to have a sales person who will sell me what I want at my speed.

[Blue Ginger]

That furniture sound really lovely. It's the colour that I would like my furniture to be, when I am able to eventually replace my black/brown Ikea stuff. (My stuff was left by my friend and ex-housemate when he moved to the other side of the country and it was stuff he already had before we moved in together.)

But I think you made a mistake in your bookshelf order. I'm pretty sure that you missed an 's' on the end of it. 1 book shelf is never enough for a book lover.

[protege]

There are the new car dealer stories like this, guy shows up in a beat up dirty truck, looks as beat up and dirty.

Yep, stories like that are pretty common. Why car salesmen seem to think that insulting potential customers is a good idea, when most of them are commissioned, I have no idea.

Several years back, I was in the market for a new car. My old Tercel was burning oil, had some electrical issues, and I got tired of messing with it. For about a month, I drove around to dealers, looked at various cars, before narrowing it down to a handful of sedans--another Corolla, a Nissan Sentra, and a Mazda Protege. Hyundai was out--after sitting in a brand-new Elantra in the showroom, and having the driver's seat promptly collapse under me I felt that something was wrong

When I finally arrived at the Mazda dealer, things got interesting. I'm not even in the showroom 5 minutes, and the salesman starts spouting off about how I needed to get my budget in order. Seriously? I'm here to buy a fucking car, and you're going to insult me? Yes, I know that the Tercel is old, it's a base model and dirty, etc. but are you kidding me? Naturally, I was pissed, and let the manager know that if I hadn't liked the car, I'd have gone somewhere else. There are plenty of dealers who *aren't* dicks and would be happy to do business with me.

[Kit-Ginevra]

Have these people not read the many stories of guy who turns up in beat-up jeans and oily tank top and then turns out to either
a.have a pile of notes in their pocket enough to buy half the showroom
b.turns out to be the owner's best mate who you do not want to annoy
c.turns out to be the owner of the company themselves....

[Slave to the Phone]

I have a rather entertaining (to me, at least) addition to the story. Today, which was a work day, I went to the furniture store at lunch so my guy could show me a mirror and end table. I had texted him and told him about what time I was going to be there.

When I walked in there was another nicely dressed receptionist at the counter. I asked her for my guy and she said that he had an appointment but might be able to see me first, then she asked for my name. When I told her, her face turned a funny color and she burst out laughing.

As it turns out, my guy, being a typical guy, did tell her that he had an appointment with me and to bring me right back. He said that I would be easy to recognize despite my very common name because I would be wearing a beat up hat, beat up gardening clothes and boots.

We both had a good over him before she brought me to him and we both laugh again when she took me to him and we both saw his double take.

Blue Ginger, I scoff at your implication that I would settle with just 1 book case! We are moving 3. Bookcases, like their contents, just look better mismatched and slightly battered.

[Mental_Mouse]

Yep, stories like that are pretty common. Why car salesmen seem to think that insulting potential customers is a good idea, when most of them are commissioned, I have no idea.

I imagine they think they're getting "time-wasters" out of the way so that all the "real customers" can come flocking in. Too bad they don't have a clue....

[Racket_Man]

There are the new car dealer stories like this, guy shows up in a beat up dirty truck, looks as beat up and dirty. Salesman blows him off, goes to other dealer to pay cash, or buy trucks for his company that does rough dirty work.

Car dealer related: many many moons ago I was seriously in need of a another vehicle. Now the car I had was very rough around the edges and I KNEW THIS.

One of the local dealers was in the middle of one those "Push, Pull, Or Tow it in and get $3000 on your trade-in" sales. OK I go and check their used /pre-owned section. I wander around for like 30 minutes and find several vehicles that are 2 oe 3 years younger than mine, in decent shape and reasonably priced. Sales guy finally wanders over and we start to talk.

One of the first things this guy does is start trash talk my current vehicle. Yeah I get it it has rust it is a little dinged up the paint is fading, etc. Thati si why I am seriously thinking about a replacement BUT I happen to like this model and make of car and getting another one would be nice. BUT NO he continues to trash my vehicle. I just look at him and walk away.

[EricKei]

RM - He was an asshole, but I can guess why he did that. He's probably used to denigrating people's "less than perfect" cars as a way to set up an expectation that their trade-in won't be worth much (read: less than what it really *should* be worth). In this sitch, he was probably trying to get you to just accept the 3 grand, regardless of your car's actual BlueBook value.

[protege]

He's probably used to denigrating people's "less than perfect" cars as a way to set up an expectation that their trade-in won't be worth much (read: less than what it really *should* be worth).

Unfortunately, it's a common practice. Just about every dealer I've dealt with does it to "justify" poor values of traded-in vehicles. They'll find some minor defect, and insist that it will lower the vehicle's value by thousands of dollars. Sorry, but I'm not putting any more cash into a car before I get rid of it. Sure, I'll clean it up a bit, but a set of new, $1,000 Michelins isn't going to happen. Nor is me trading in a car that's listed at $8K in the blue book for $2K. There are plenty of dealers that will be happy to do business and not screw me over.

[rose_metal_nz]

When I walked in there was another nicely dressed receptionist at the counter. I asked her for my guy and she said that he had an appointment but might be able to see me first, then she asked for my name.

Bingo - this right here; that's what you should have got the first time. And we have a winner, folks!

[Slave to the Phone]

You are so right, rose_metal_nz. Had the first receptionist asked my name and then pretended to call my guy on the phone, then turned me away, I would have left while telling myself to call and make an appointment for the next day.

I did find it amusing that the new receptionist gently prepared a woman wearing business casual and a government ID (among other things, government ID tends to mean regular paychecks) that her guy might have to turn her away because he was waiting for someone who looks like a not-very-successful self-employed gardener.