Thursday, April 24, 2008

Phasers Set to Stun

Two salespeople (who will remain nameless but wear red shirts) interrupted my gardening today. I wish their company heads watched more Star Trek. At least then they might have reconsidered the red shirts. And if I weren't fighting the prickliest hedges in the yard, I would probably have thought of a more creative way to tell them I wasn't interested.

No I didn't. I'm too nice. "No" does not easily escape my lips, even though I use the term a lot more since having kids. I let them run their pitch and then I smiled politely and said, "Uh, I don't like making decisions on the spot. I would need to talk with my husband first."

Now a smart salesman would have translated that to "No." But not our two red shirts. "What time will your husband be home? Can we talk to him?" I love my husband. "Sure, you can talk to him," I replied, "He'll be home after 6...or 7." The two red shirts went happily on their way, promising to return later. I felt so sorry for them. Hubby has worked in customer service. He has thousands of ways to strongly verbalize "No."

So when I warned him and they returned after 7, Hubby quickly dispatched them with a warm smile and a firm no. They didn't even get to repeat their pitch! I like to let salesmen do their spiel. After all, the homeschooling mom in me wants them to have the chance to practice.

5 comments:

momof3feistykids said...

*LOL!* If they had watched more Star Trek, they DEFINITELY would've avoided those red shirts. You are so funny.

http://tribeofautodidacts.homeschooljournal.net/

Jessica said...

I have worked in sales too and it is hard when you feel you never get to do your spiel. Glad you at least let them feel productive until they were turned down. lol

p.s. I am also a Trekie ;)

Amelia Antwiler said...

See -- in star trek -- they'd have been attacked by some weird creeping ooze when they first landed on your lawn. *L* That's what Red shirts are for.

I'm very tickled at the "practice" bit... I usually tell them I don't want to waste the oxygen...I mean their time. *L*

Spinneretta said...

LOL
I usually let them practise too... and then politely tell them I am not interested. I have also called the hubby card :D He is MUCH better at it than me... his mother was the best salesman/woman in her field- he knows ALL the tricks ;)

As for the red shirts... that is nearly always the guarantee that they will get killed ya know. That and the fact that they were not Kirk. All the others were killed at some point to be brought back to life later ;)

(we have the entire original series on tape and I indoctrinated... erm, I mean- introduced the kids to it ;)

Anonymous said...

I'm jealous, I want the entire original series on DVD, I only have a few episodes of each series, the time travel collection.

Rissa

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