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Friday, January 7, 2011

The Prince

I should have not answered the door. To act like no one is home, like I do now. But I did answer the door to someone I did not know. What do you call them now? Someone trying to sell you something that you don't want. A traveling salesperson? A cold knocker? Anyway, he was a well-dressed, good-looking, young black man selling magazine subscriptions. I should have cut him off fast, I hardly read anyway. But I didn't. I was being polite while being trapped. He went into his long speech and I waited for a break to tell him that I wasn't interested. But I couldn't get a break.

Telling someone "no" is a hard thing for me to do when someone is so convincing. And the young man was convincing, and determined to get the sale. He wouldn't take no for an answer. I tried, but I guess I wasn't skilled enough in my no answers. I probably was indirect with my word usage like "let me think about it" and "maybe". I didn't want the sharp guy to think that he wasn't going to get the sale after his strong effort he put in to get the sale.

But then the salesperson hit his home run with me. He preceded to talk about how he met Prince a couple of weeks prior. And that Prince bought 30 subscription issues from him. The crafty salesman pointed to 1 of the 2 columns of the total 60 magazine selections on his sheet that Prince had bought.

Being 17 and barely on my own, I believed the sly salesman's load of crap. I was a big fan of Prince at the time. The salesman told me the story of how he met the great Artist. He went into specifics like Prince's full name and height, etc. And that Prince had a pool on his property that read "RAIN" in all capitol letters at the bottom of the deep end.

The slick salesman must have spent at least 20 to 30 minutes telling me the "true" story of how he and Prince met. I believed him. I was young, stupid, and naive. I was in such awe and amazement of someone meeting someone famous like the seductive Prince. I had his cassettes.

Clearly after all the time the clever salesperson spent entertaining me, I felt obligated to buy 2 magazine subscriptions so I signed up immediately. I wasn't interested in the 2 magazines that I would never read, but my obligation was stronger than my rejection. And then the salesperson was off to the next door.

After a few minutes...my thought process sunk in...ohhhh. That jerk lied to me! And he conned me into buying his product with his bogus bullshitted story. Luckily, the contract had a 3 day cancellation policy. I canceled the order within minutes after he left.

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