This weekend, Matt and I went to look for a bed. We have a mattress, but no bed frame because it was a piece of furniture we didn't really need in the beginning and so we decided to wait. But now, we're starting to want a bed frame for a few reasons (not important).
So we decided to make the rounds. The first shop we went to had really neat furniture and so we were looking around when a salesman came up to us and asked us if we were looking for anything in particular. Against my better judgement (I don't really like sales people, but I'll explain that in a moment) I said we were looking for bed frames. So he took us upstairs and showed us some of the ugliest bed frames I'd ever seen. We didn't enthuse with him as he pointed out the various styles and the he asked me what our price range was. I didn't specify a dollar value, but simply said, “fairly low.” So the he went into this diatribe about how he wouldn't have anything for us as we would be only interested in “fashion furniture” from over seas with “welds that would break.” And on and on for 15 minutes. Not exactly nasty, just condescending. And the really dumb part, was that he had a couple of beds in our “fairly low” price range. They were ugly and we wouldn't have bought them anyhow, but certainly not after he launched into condescension. After his rant, he left us abrubtly stating that we could “look around if you like.”
Now c'mon. Matt and I are 23. We don't have a ton of money. We have to start somewhere. Where the heck does this guy get off being rude to us? Why did he even bother talking to us if he was just going to cop an attitude. I'm sorry we weren't the quick sale he was looking for.
Which brings me to my point. I've gotten to the point where I don't even want a sales person helping us. It's especially bad at furniture stores. They're typically snooty or they hover and put in their “designer” opinion. I can't believe that sells stuff to anyone. It just makes me want to sprint out of there at top speed.
So here's a bit of advice to the sales people out there. You're more likely to get me to buy something if you just leave me alone. Sales pressure techniques and insinuations about my income (or lack there of)will not work on me. They will just piss me off.