Ah, that time of year again...snow, mistletoe, Kirby salesmen

Yesterday was pretty tough--I was up at 4:30, at work by 6, and home by 2:45 to watch the kids (4 kids now--our two and two from Whitney's BFF Sarah). While firehosing me with all the TODOs (change this, change that, sippy cup, etc.), Whitney mentioned, "Oh, and a guy from Kirby should be here from 3 to 5 to clean the carpets and shampoo the carpets for free."



:-) I was not too thrilled with this, as I'd been here before. Twenty-three years ago...a guy showed up at Hacienda Combs and sold Mom & Dad a Kirby Heritage II vacuum. Thing was solid steel, essentially unbreakable. It was also $1200 give-or-take. (According to The CPI calculator, that's $2400 in today's money, folks!)

Anyway, the guy shows up, and does the song-and dance with this new Kirby that's self-powered, but (to me) made of the cheapest plastic they could find. And the guy's sales technique...ugh.

"Please buy one."

"Woncha just buy one so I can go home?"

Yeah, you can do that with exactly two things: Jewelry and MINI Coopers. Not vacuum cleaners.

And the price for this jewel of cost-cutting and poor construction? $1600.

Here's a link on some Kirby Vacuum cleaner sales practices.

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