(no subject)

[katallison]

OK, gals and pals, it's time for a little pop quiz, so sit up straight, put away your gum, and pay attention!

Now--imagine that you are a salesperson in a retail store selling a reasonably big-ticket furniture item such as ... oh, let's say, mattresses. A customer enters the store, and tells you upfront "I'm just looking right now, to get a sense of what's available in various price ranges." Do you:

___ a. Say, "That's fine, take your time, let me know if you have questions," and then hover at a tactful distance, allowing the customer to peruse the stock in a leisurely fashion, perhaps tossing out a bit of info now and then about the features of the various mattresses, but otherwise giving the customer a bit of time and breathing room? OR:

___ b. Clamp onto the customer like a freakin' pit bull, drag her over to the most expensive mattresses in the store, insist she try each of them out, and when she mentions a desired price range considerably lower than twelve hundred dollars, give her the stink-eye and strongly imply that she might as well sleep in a refrigerator carton under the bridge, but huffily show her the cheaper items, and then when she begins saying, "Well, OK, I'll need to think this over," swing right into the high-pressure close-the-deal stuff of "When should we arrange delivery?" and "Would you like the extended financing?" until the customer, feeling panicked, starts babbling all sorts of obviously lame and contrived excuses (forgotten dental appointments, a sudden case of the flu, grandma's funeral) so that she can flee, hands flapping, still babbling, sweating profusely?

I mean, OK, selling mattresses has got to be an awful job, but jeee-zus. I shall never in this life enter that store again, even if the only alternative was to pull a Benton Fraser and sleep on the floor in a freakin' bedroll.

[edited to add: And yeah, I could have told her (politely) to back the hell off, but really, my script for the day was "Kat goes to look at some stupid mattresses," *not* "The Very Special Episode in Which Kat Discovers the Miracle of Assertiveness." Bleah. God, I hate shopping.]

Comments

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Given that the high pressure sales tactics is presumably something that management dreamed up to make their sales staff have even less fun, it might be worthwhile calling the shop and telling the management - without identifying the individual - that you didn't buy a mattress from them precisely because of the behaviour of their staff.