Hard Sell

I just got off the phone from scheduling pictures for S-Boogie and Little Dude. I feel kind of bad that I never managed to get Little Dude in for a studio photo of him as a baby, but at least I'm on the ball to get his one-year photo. We've done Target in the past, but the closest one with a portrait studio here is 50 miles away, so we're switching our loyalty to JC Penney. Besides the fact that I'm already nervous about Little Dude's behavior (I remember S-Boogie attempting to throw herself off the table at her one-year portrait), I am getting very nervous about dealing with the pushy salespeople. As much as I hate the actual picture-taking, I hate trying to convince them that I really only want my one pose, $7.99 package. That's it.

The lady on the phone today was very pushy. She wanted to know all about my children's ages, personalities (how do you describe the personality of a one-year-old?), full names, hobbies, what they were going to wear, etc... I tried to describe everything, but also kept interjecting that I probably only wanted one pose since I was getting the package. And I know that when I get there and they will insist on taking fifty different pictures in the hopes that I will stop being so chintzy once I see the cuteness of multiple poses. I acknowledge that multiple poses can often be cute, but the reason why we go through the trouble of printing off coupons is so we can save money. If they don't want people to be cheap, they shouldn't give us coupons. If I can get 24 pictures for only $7.99, why would I choose anything else?

Comments

Tina said…
I know how you feel. We go to Walmart and never buy more than the one pose package. I think they know us by now and stopped bothering to try and convince us to buy more. Good Luck.
7/03/2007 1:09 AM
skyeJ said…
oooh. I wish I was home to go with you. I cannot WAIT to use my newly hardened shopping persona back home in the marshmallow world of American Retail. Americans really don't know the term "hard sell" until they've been to a third world country. And I don't even count Morocco as third world. I can't wait to go sign myself up for a new cellphone contract with my new bargaining skills.
7/05/2007 7:50 AM
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