Author Topic: What's the worst thing anyone has said to you when trying to sell you something?  (Read 51760 times)

Freedomin5

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Several years ago, DH and I were shopping for a diamond engagement ring. We went into one jewelry store, and I asked to try on a particular $10,000 ring. After I slipped it on, the salesperson said, “Wow...I didn’t think that would fit you. Your finger looked way too fat to fit the ring.”

The more senior salesperson beside him gave him a look that could kill.

Sugaree

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I never understood the big car for kids thing. Even with car seats they are still smaller than adults.

If you have multiple kids who require car seats, you do have to make sure that all of the carseats can be properly attached in the backseat.  In reality, this only becomes an issue once you hit three kids.  Baby gear is another issue.  Some of those "travel system" strollers are ginormous.

I had a two door Jeep when my kid was born, and we kept it until he was about 9 months old and I slipped and fell getting him out one day.  Luckily, I landed on my back with him on top of me rather than the other way around.  We went with the bigger version, but I'll probably go back to the two-door version next time.
« Last Edit: June 24, 2020, 06:22:44 AM by Sugaree »

Dicey

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I never understood the big car for kids thing. Even with car seats they are still smaller than adults.

If you have multiple kids who require car seats, you do have to make sure that all of the carseats can be properly attached in the backseat.  In reality, this only becomes an issue once you hit three kids.  Baby gear is another issue.  Some of those "travel system" strollers are ginormous.

I had a two door Jeep when my kid was born, and we kept it until he was about 9 months old and I slipped and fell getting him out one day.  Luckily, I landed on my back with him on top of me rather than the other way around.  We went with the bigger version, but I'll probably go back to the two-door version next time.
Wow! That sounds scary. Glad no one was seriously hurt.

jps

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Several years ago, DH and I were shopping for a diamond engagement ring. We went into one jewelry store, and I asked to try on a particular $10,000 ring. After I slipped it on, the salesperson said, “Wow...I didn’t think that would fit you. Your finger looked way too fat to fit the ring.”

The more senior salesperson beside him gave him a look that could kill.

This nearly made me spit my coffee out! Talk about sales 101, right there.

solon

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Several years ago, DH and I were shopping for a diamond engagement ring. We went into one jewelry store, and I asked to try on a particular $10,000 ring. After I slipped it on, the salesperson said, “Wow...I didn’t think that would fit you. Your finger looked way too fat to fit the ring.”

The more senior salesperson beside him gave him a look that could kill.

And then you bought the $800 ring?

Dicey

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Several years ago, DH and I were shopping for a diamond engagement ring. We went into one jewelry store, and I asked to try on a particular $10,000 ring. After I slipped it on, the salesperson said, “Wow...I didn’t think that would fit you. Your finger looked way too fat to fit the ring.”

The more senior salesperson beside him gave him a look that could kill.

And then you bought the $800 ring? Somewhere else, right?

Freedomin5

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Several years ago, DH and I were shopping for a diamond engagement ring. We went into one jewelry store, and I asked to try on a particular $10,000 ring. After I slipped it on, the salesperson said, “Wow...I didn’t think that would fit you. Your finger looked way too fat to fit the ring.”

The more senior salesperson beside him gave him a look that could kill.

And then you bought the $800 ring? Somewhere else, right?

The one we bought was $150, and we bought it at a jewelry wholesale market that sold individual gemstones and settings to jewelry makers.

solon

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Several years ago, DH and I were shopping for a diamond engagement ring. We went into one jewelry store, and I asked to try on a particular $10,000 ring. After I slipped it on, the salesperson said, “Wow...I didn’t think that would fit you. Your finger looked way too fat to fit the ring.”

The more senior salesperson beside him gave him a look that could kill.

And then you bought the $800 ring? Somewhere else, right?

The one we bought was $150, and we bought it at a jewelry wholesale market that sold individual gemstones and settings to jewelry makers.

I love happy endings!

Jezibelle

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I sit down in his chair, he starts fooling with my hair as we discuss what I want.... and he flat out REFUSES to give me a haircut.  "Because your hair is in such poor condition, even if I give you a great cut it still won't look good. And that will reflect badly on me and my reputation when people ask you who does your hair."
You just reminded me of a tattoo artist I saw once who refused to do the small, inconspicuous thing I wanted in white ink. Because the two things I wanted (I tend to just save up a couple/few tattoos and get them all done at once because it's such a chore, and I hate doing things). He said white ink looks like shit. I told him it's my tattoo, and the location was chosen because it wouldn't be that seen or noticeable. He said he didnt want to put his name on a white tattoo, and that i should just do it in black. I told him with all due respect, nobody would ask who did a tiny, nothing tattoo, and, honestly, I wouldn't remember his name (I don't go to random artists for larger or more visible pieces).  He still refused, and because i'm an idiot, I asked what the lightest color was that he felt comfortable doing it in, and he said a light gray wash, but I should do it in black.  I said fine, do the gray wash.   During the first tattoo he kept asking if he could just do the second one in black. I kept saying no.  He spent the entire appointment criticizing other tattoo artists in general, hyping up how great he was, did my 2nd tattoo in black anyway(!), and I'm really unimpressed with the wonky first one. But whatever, because I literally don't remember the kid's name.

2.  I work in a office building with a no soliciting sign on the front door and on the door to our suite.  Years ago, this guy came in and wanted to talk to me about how he could save our company money.  I said, "You don't have an appointment and we have two no soliciting signs that you ignored."  He replied with, "I'm not soliciting, I'm trying to help you save money!"  I told him we weren't interested and that he needed to leave the premises.  He condescendingly said, "You don't want to save your company money?!"  I said, "Nope, I don't.  Please leave."  LOL!
I LOATHE solicitors. I don't care what they're selling. I do not want to be disturbed when i'm at home, period.  I have a sign on my door that says all deliveries are to be left at the door, and not to knock or ring the bell, as my dog will bark.  People ignore the sign, and it freaks both me and my dog out, she goes nuts, i'm angry..it's a mess every single time. I now have THREE freaking signs at my front door. One you can see as you walk up the walkway, the polite one on my door, and a blatant DO NOT KNOCK next to the polite one, since I've caught on camera multiple people who think my covering my doorbell means they should knock instead, despite all the signs. <_<   My neighbor thinks i'm insane, but it's like what else can I do???  Especially now that i'm working at home it is imperative that I am not disturbed and that my dog does not bark.  Adam Carolla once said "I didn't start out being an asshole, you made me an asshole." and I think about that a lot.

The crown was, drum roll, yellow. What the heck, was this woman blind? This was going in my mouth and didn't match my teeth! Her answer was that my teeth would eventually match that color since I was refusing to whiten them
    I just laughed SO loudly. WOW.

You cut your own hair to spite your boyfriend? 
I don’t get it.
   I was wondering this with every post where someone did something spiteful towards a partner, and remained in the relationship. I don't get it.  I mean, i don't get how it's offensive for someone to have a thing they like and mention it or compliment it, but I really don't get that someone would remain in the relationship with the person they find chronically maliciously offensive. It seems the last thing my partner should be is malicious to me, and the least healthy response is for me to do something to spite them because something they did bothered me...? 

To actually neg someone effectively requires a lot of skill at reading people. I actually tried it on some super-hot guys that I thought were out of my league, and it did actually work. They were usually a little vain about something, so it was all about finding something to say that wasn't mean, that was true, and saying it the right way.
   Negging is not remotely close to needing to be true or not mean. What you did sounds more like just being complimentary, which is a far cry from the garbage that is negging.
Although I also acknowledge that things often work differently when directed toward a man vs toward a woman (pls see the Jersey Shore reference: Grenades. Or don't. Probably don't.)

These stories rarely happen "just because" in the US, probably because of the inane customer service focus. But if it *does* happen, it's probably because the people behind the counter actually don't like you. They're racist, or they don't think you're cool enough to shop there, or whatever.
  Nah. Most front line retail people just don't give a shit about their jobs or the companies for which they work. And a lot of minimum wage workers feel they deserve better, and it comes out in the service.

To be clear, my response was mostly triggered by projekt's off the wall (IMO) assumptions. I can fully appreciate the thrill of coming up with a solid comeback on the spot. Believe me, i grok how hard it is to do, especially when someone has royally pissed you off!
Are you an MDA fan? X-D

Most times when someone complained about poor treatment, they tended blame it on how they were dressed. News Flash: We don't GAF what you're wearing. If you fought traffic, got a parking space and found your way here, you must need something. More likely, the complainer was the person who felt less confident about their appearance or was somehow personally intimidated by the general environment. @project, your assumptions in the quote below were really triggering for me, hence my response. Why the fuck would you think a salesperson/clerk etc. wouldn't like you? They don't even know you!
  I really appreciate this.   I hear a lot of people (in general, not in this thread) complain about an interaction they had with someone, and include a whole lot of assumptions that one would not come to if they weren't feeling some kind of way about those projected things. Being an outsider hearing the description of events it's a lot easier to be less biased, and judge based on what actually happened and not how it FELT when it happened, and I wish it were easier to get people to be more truthful/honest about these encounters.  I get that the person absolutely might've been a jerk, but it's really unfair to accuse the person of racism (or sexism or whatever else), when their actions and words didn't support that in any way.

nereo

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I sit down in his chair, he starts fooling with my hair as we discuss what I want.... and he flat out REFUSES to give me a haircut.  "Because your hair is in such poor condition, even if I give you a great cut it still won't look good. And that will reflect badly on me and my reputation when people ask you who does your hair."

Something about this refusal to perform requested work reminded me of an experience my wife had with a plumber.
We are renovating a turn-of-the-19th-century home that has a lot of deferred maintenance and questionable previous renovations.  When a plumber  (in his late 60s I imagine) came over to replace a manifold, my wife tried to talk to him about doing some extensive work on an upstairs bathroom for which we were prepared to pay lots of money to get done.  We had agreed on what we wanted done and were asking for a quote.

While explaining to the plumber what we wanted done (basically a tear-out and moving a drain line) he looked at her and just shook his head and said "oh honey that's going to be expensive, and it's going to get your home all dusty and then you'll spend hours vacuuming.  Maybe you should talk to your husband." She told him we had talked and agreed on what we wanted done, but he persisted.  "oh honey, I'm so sorry to tell you that this would be a big job, and it would be messy."  Ultiamtely he never even suggested what it might cost or how long it would take.

The kicker is ...
Spoiler: show
that we got two other quotes, and they were both less than what we thought we might have to pay.  One guy told us "well yeah, I got to cut a hole in the floor, but you already knew that, and I can get all the roughed in stuff in 3-4 days".  We were expecting 2-3 weeks.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2020, 01:40:44 PM by nereo »

solon

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I sit down in his chair, he starts fooling with my hair as we discuss what I want.... and he flat out REFUSES to give me a haircut.  "Because your hair is in such poor condition, even if I give you a great cut it still won't look good. And that will reflect badly on me and my reputation when people ask you who does your hair."

Something about this refusal to perform requested work reminded me of an experience my wife had with a plumber.
We are renovating a turn-of-the-19th-century home that has a lot of deferred maintenance and questionable previous renovations.  When a plumber  (in his late 60s I imagine) came over to replace a manifold, my wife tried to talk to him about doing some extensive work on an upstairs bathroom for which we were prepared to pay lots of money to get done.  We had agreed on what we wanted done and were asking for a quote.

While explaining to the plumber what we wanted done (basically a tear-out and moving a drain line) he looked at her and just shook his head and said "oh honey that's going to be expensive, and it's going to get your home all dusty and then you'll spend hours vacuuming.  Maybe you should talk to your husband." She told him we had talked and agreed on what we wanted done, but he persisted.  "oh honey, I'm so sorry to tell you that this would be a big job, and it would be messy."  Ultiamtely he never even suggested what it might cost or how long it would take.

The kicker is that we got two other quotes, and they were both less than what we thought we might have to pay.  One guy told us "well yeah, I got to cut a hole in the floor, but you already knew that, and I can get all the roughed in stuff in 3-4 days".  We were expecting 2-3 weeks.

The kicker i

What's the kicker?... You're killing us!

nereo

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Sorry.  Sometimes I screw up the formatting with embedded quotes.  Fixed it (and added a 'Spoiler', just because!)

Villanelle

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Several years ago, DH and I were shopping for a diamond engagement ring. We went into one jewelry store, and I asked to try on a particular $10,000 ring. After I slipped it on, the salesperson said, “Wow...I didn’t think that would fit you. Your finger looked way too fat to fit the ring.”

The more senior salesperson beside him gave him a look that could kill.

This seems so blatant that I have to suspect it was an attempt at negging. 

jeninco

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It was a guy who wanted to sell me magic face cream. He started pointing out the condition of the skin (and wrinkles) on my face and hands, and I just gave him my best, harshest "are you seriously saying that to me" expression. 

He kind of just petered out all on his own...

Missy B

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"Wow... you have a lot of hair."

Said to me at a laser hair consult. Quite unnecessarily, since I had already decided to do it and didn't need to be shamed and manipulated into spending the money.
Also, I had been waxing for over a decade at that point so that was only 50-60% of the hair I originally had.
I do wish now that I had told her she was a little bitch and gone elsewhere. It was just another version of the whole "Oh my, your pores are... quite large. But we do have something that will help..."

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!