This may have been my last one ever
Door-to-door salesmen. I thought they all died out with the ease of e-mail spamming.. but apparently not. The perils of living in suburbia.. lots of houses with lots of people in them and easily accessible by foot for the right-minded perky college student.
*ding dong*
[Insert long diatribe about winning some contest (a trip to Cancun! You ever been there?) which culminates in a brochure with subscription options for such fine magazines as Reader's Digest]
k: "Uh, no thanks".
sg: "Don't you want to help me win?"
k: "No, not really, but nice guilt trip"
Not even a good bye and he's walking off to the next house over.. and our admittedly short but yet so spunky and perky relationship ends.
Oh well.. still.. it's something to tell your grandkids 50 years from now as they marvel at the idea of people selling things door-to-door.
Comments
In my neighborhood I get these visitors a lot, and I've noticed that my house is strategically located in their routes so I'm the *one guy* whose purchase would put them over the top. Not "three more" to win, but just one.
What a coincidence!
Posted by: Steve Friedl | October 4, 2003 04:38 PM
I got one of those guys here a few months ago.
It wasn't even a particularly good guilt trip honestly.
Posted by: garrett | October 4, 2003 06:58 PM
We get them every now and then, contrary to the city ordnance and the sign just below my doorbell which reads "No Soliciting".
I feel no guilt at all.
Posted by: joat | October 5, 2003 08:59 AM
Not to sound too much like a capitalist, but have you ever enumerated the methods or promoting a product or service that are *acceptable* to you?
Posted by: Peter | October 5, 2003 10:15 AM
No.. why would I? I'm not writing to promote capitalism.. just about what strikes me as funny or worth sharing.
When I start a weblog about marketing I'll be sure to let you know though.
Posted by: kasia | October 5, 2003 11:45 AM
actually, I predict that door-to-door selling becomes popular again with the introduction of the nation-wide do not call list... we'll see.
Posted by: john engler | October 5, 2003 01:56 PM
I had great fun once with an RCN salesman who wanted me to buy his broadband - I asked him if his service supported VPNs. He had to go out and contact his foreman before he came back and said it didn't because, after all, the "the R in RCN stands for 'Residential.' "
Posted by: adamg | October 6, 2003 03:14 PM
Unless they're selling girl scout cookies, most door-to-door salespeople must have a local city business permit. None of them ever do. You can call the local police and they'll come out and write them a ticket.
Posted by: SteveG | October 7, 2003 11:24 AM
You know K, if you answered the door in the nude, you'd get a better reaction out of them. :)
Posted by: Dan Isaacs | October 7, 2003 12:30 PM