No one can deny the feeling of shopping for the furniture you love. From the moment you walk into the store, your eyes are in search for that ideal sofa or loveseat that just fit perfectly in your living room. Now all you need is a spokesperson with an honest opinion to escort you through the store. Here’s where you run into a problem. As you enter the glass double-doors you are immediately surrounded by an ethnically diverse group people with nice suits and smiling faces. At first you feel at home, but all of a sudden you are burdened with the responsibility to select only one, and when your choice is finally made, the others just seem to disappear within the store. You almost feel betrayed when you see that the group that had initially disbanded after you made your choice, has now reassembled at the door for the next customer, smiling faces included. Yeah, you’re not that special.
Finally, your moment has come, the one-on-one with the salesperson. You begin by asking simple questions like, “What material is this made from?” or “mind if I take a seat?” When trying out the furniture, you notice the salesperson trying to decipher whether or not you are actually going to buy it, and the more furniture you sample, the more obvious this feeling becomes. You quickly smile at the employee as you get up and say, “Wow this is really comfortable,” of course you want nothing to do with that rocking chair. You proceed through the store and you finally set your eyes on something desirable. You see it in the distance and make your way over to this beautiful brown sofa, your escort slowly follows, almost bothered that you found it instead of him introducing it to you. You take a seat. “Wow this is fantastic, I really like this sofa,” you tell the employee with enthusiasm. You notice the salesperson begin to grin as if you just walked right into his trap, but you don’t mind, because you’ve discovered a great sofa in this football-field sized warehouse. Both parties are bubbling with excitement as you move closer and closer to the discussion of the price, which only tickles the thought of you actually purchasing the sofa.
The time has come; you finally pop the question to the employee. “How much for this one Gary?” These next few moments are crucial, you’ve only known this guy for a half an hour, but for some reason your relationship with him flashes before your eyes in such a way that depending on the price of this sofa, he is either your friend or simply someone that almost fooled you into spending your money. You begin to wonder if you made the right choice in the employee roulette at the front door. His face turns for only a millisecond, but his forced smile returns as he remembers the price of the sofa. The words creep out of his mouth like a slow moving smoke, “It’s 699.99.” You shake your head trying to identify just how many 9’s were in that number. Now you are put in a tough position, you are certainly not happy with the price, but it feels like almost everyone in the store is looking at you, just waiting to hear you say those desired three words, “I’ll take it.” But you can’t, what has really happened in this store finally washes over you like a tidal wave. The whole thing was just a show, the empty smiles, the friendly faces, all for you. Not anymore. You quickly compose yourself, and in a moment of courage, you confidently stand up from the comfortable leather sofa. You mimic the employees fake smile as you say, “that’s not a bad price, let’s keep looking.” You are now in complete control, it’s time for revenge. You begin to give the aura that you are sold on this furniture and that you are in such a frenzy that from here on, almost anything that you show interest for you will immediately buy. The salespersons smile grows with every envious look he gets from his co-workers for the anticipated commission. You are finally enjoying yourself. You feel like a millionaire as you walk around like you can buy the whole store, coincidentally your escorts energy has tripled as he gallops towards everything you set your eyes on. After hours of touring the oversized warehouse, you finally spot something that you remember seeing some time ago, and you have certainly wasted enough of everyone’s time
Now you make your way to the counter in the back of the store where final deals are made. It’s time for you to reveal you deception. But you’re smart, you’re not going to just admit that you are planning on leaving the store empty handed. Rather, you’re going to ask for your escorts contact information. His smile vanishes as he asks you with a glimmer of hope, “You’re not going to buy anything?” You claim, “Not today” but, that you’ll “let him know.” Now you begin to make your way to front door smiling, leaving behind you a seed of doubt if they’ll ever hear from you again. And of course you know if you ever return the roles will be reversed. Now your previous selection will have that same feeling of anticipation and excitement that you had when you first entered the store. Revenge has never been sweeter, thanks Ashley Furniture.
