Death of a Salesman

I know I could never have been successful in retail or sales. Customers would just drive me nuts. I deal with people all the time, but in education I am dealing with something important. When you are dealing with a parent, you learn to put up with a lot because their children so important to them.

I couldn’t do that in sales, because it just isn’t that important. And I think, because it isn’t vital, people actually waste more time at it. I love Kijiji, as I have said before. And I have sent questions to people in the past about items and then not pursued them. But I have never bombarded people with questions when I had no real intent to buy. And that is what I feel is happening. Guys are on line, dreaming about a bike and sending out questions as part of their dreaming.

Not idle questions either. Details and long rambling responses to my answers. I have had one guy email me over ten times with question after question, often repeating himself. I kept thinking about that character in the movie Notting Hill who repeatedly comes into Hugh Grant’s travel book shop asking for novels by Charles Dickens and John Grisham. I have spent my fair share of time wandering through bike shops day-dreaming, but I have never approached a salesperson to ask questions, knowing I had no real intent to buy. I figured I was wasting my time with the daydream, but what was the point of wasting someone else’s time.

So far I have had no serious offers on the bike, although I have had interest in my parts bike and parts from that bike. People should be coming tonight to have a look.