I was standing outside my house with Ernest, waiting for
Marshall to come home. When a car driving by pulls over to the side of the road
and makes a u-turn practically into my driveway. The side of the var (a car
van) says Butcher’s Cut. He asks me
if we ever eat steak. Good opener. I
suppose a few people could say no, but not many. Now my rule with door to door
sales is to tell them to come back and talk to my husband if they even want a
chance at selling their product. He will listen, ask questions and level-headedly
decide if he wants to purchase (he also has a soft spot for door-to-door sales
because he has done it-but don’t tell him I said so (and this wasn’t really
door-to-door sales because the drive into my driveway)). I always just say no.
But to be honest, I was thinking about buying steaks for a
dinner next week. So someone bringing my groceries to my house sounded like a
good idea. So I said, ‘Yes.’ And that my friends is where it all began.
He got out of the var and started showing me the steaks and
used his first sales tactic; they are so
cheap, you can’t get this price at the store. I wanted 4 steaks. About 1
minute into him talking I realize he wants to sell me 38 lbs of steak. And as I
am getting hesitant about this whole thing he decides to start pulling out the
chicken that also comes with ‘the deal.’ 18 lbs of it.
My first excuse was probably not the best response as you
will see. ‘I don’t think I have enough room to even put those in my freezer.’
He then said, ‘Let me see your freezer and I can tell you.’ Now at this point I
feel like it is important to remember that I thought my husband would be home
any second. He kind of loves talking to salesman so it was going to be a
special surprise for him if I could keep these guys around a little longer.
Another bonus: I have started feeling more comfortable in my ability to keep my
boundaries strong around salesmen so engaging has become much less stressful
and more enjoyable for myself. I guess my husband really is rubbing off on me. So
with that in mind I said ok.
In we went. I opened my freezer and he said oh yeah we can
fit them in. He moves a few items to show me how much room I really do have
while I turn my attention to the other guy who is now using his second tactic; this beef is all natural, grass fed, free
range, the best beef out there. And the chicken? No hormones, no antibiotics, all
natural.
I’ll admit I am still a little intrigued by the offer. I
would love to have that much meat stocked up. But I am still hesitant. It is a
lot of money and a lot of space. And to make matters worse for them I am a slow
decision maker. I think this is when
they went from thinking this would be a quick and easy sale at 4:30 in the
afternoon to pure annoyance with me (by the way being annoyed with a customer
does not help get you the sale…just sayin). This is when I realized that he had
unloaded 18 lbs of individually wrapped chicken INTO my freezer. What? I have
not in any way shape or from committed to the purchase. This was their third
tactic; if the chicken is in the fridge
because she thinks that we thought she wanted it she will feel bad and have to
buy it. In reality my first thought was, ‘I am so not buying that because you just put that in my freezer.’
So this is when I got a little more serious and starting
really learning about the product. I started asking questions, reading labels
and ingredient lists, calculating how much per pound, etc. This is also when I
found out my husband would be a little later. Everything wasn’t quite adding
up. Here is one example:
Salesman: They are all natural.
Me: Yes, but that doesn’t mean anything. Any food can put
that on their label and it doesn’t mean anything other than that they decided
to print it on their label.
Salesman: Well for us it means this…..
Hmm…nice try. By law it doesn’t have to mean anything, so I wasn’t
about to just take their word for it. Why would a company do that? If it wasn’t
on the label I didn’t believe it. Which meant the chicken wasn’t antibiotic
free and the beef wasn’t grass fed (to just name a few). The chicken was
seasoned and a couple of the varieties contained food allergies for Ernest.
That was a big turn off. I don’t like buying food he can’t eat even if he is a
baby. I like him to eat what we are eating.
I finally I decide I just can’t do it. I really don’t want
that much meat in my freezer. It was too much! Not to mention the falsified health
claims, which I didn’t feel the need to bring up to them. But it didn’t seem to
matter that I had decided not to buy based on space and price. All they wanted
to sale me on was how healthy the chicken was. My favorite comment from them (and by favorite I really mean the one that almost made me turn into crazy psycho lady on them): This
chicken is so healthy for you. If nothing else you need to buy this chicken for
your son. You wouldn’t want to fill his body with toxins would you? Do it for
him. He is worth it.
Um…really? You want to try and guilt me into buying this?
Not just guilt, MOM guilt? I should have known…this was actually your second
tactic involving guilt. Um…NO.
By this time there was no friendliness is their tone only condescendence
and annoyance. Yep. And you are welcome to leave. And when I am in the market
to buy steak and chicken in bulk I will NOT be calling your company. Thanks
though. Oh and have a good day. And bless your poor children. That’s all.
