At first it didn't sound so bad. We thought it sounded like a nice evening, actually. A little sushi, then off in the zipcar to a little Toyota dealership south of the peninsula. Wrong. We've both become used to our less consumer-driven lifestyle. It has made us soft. As soon as we set foot onto the enormous, glaringly pristine sales floor they swooped in like a murder of crows. Or, like one stoop-shouldered balding man. Whatever. He showed us his wares in a rather disinterested manner as we pried information out of him about different models. His only real concern? What color we would be interested in. He rattled off colors over and over, to which I replied, "What, no pink?" He chose to ignore me.
Apparently concerned that we were not, he led us to a sales manager who promptly began the usual hijinks. A long, boring negotiation process ensued, during which we insisted again and again that we would not, under any circumstances, be purchasing a car this evening. Finally, he told us to "name our price, any number". My favorite. I told him. He did not seem to agree with me that $20 was a reasonable amount for a new car. Hmmm. Maybe I should have asked for "pre-owned". Then we gave him another amount and he tried to get me to sign a piece of scrap paper to show we would "have a deal" and then he would see IF he could actually get the deal for me. For about the 30th time I told him we were not ready to buy. For the 40th time he asked me "Why you are not ready? Why?" To which I replied we just weren't. Then it happened. He actually said to me, verbatim, "Now you are acting like a female. I thought you were intelligent but-" At which point I cut him off. Johnny and I collected our coats and turned to leave as he actually offered me his hand. I frowned at it as he assured us he just wanted to shake hands because it had been such a pleasure talking to us. I assured him it was not, as he had insulted my person and my gender. We promptly left. About 20 minutes later, it really sank in for my poor, tired, stressed-out husband what had actually transpired. As I rehashed the conversation a look of loathing crept over his face. Mind you, he's hard of hearing and the sales manager's accent was rather heavy. He was ready to turn the car around. Is it worth writing a letter if I never caught the sales manager's name?
4 comments:
Don't bother with a letter. I'm sure the boss has already had a good chuckle over the crazy goth bitch that showed up to buy a pink car for $20.
I loathe car shopping...Lucky for me I won't be able to afford a new one for many more moons.
Can't say anyone has ever stooped so low as to call me a "female" before though. What nerve!
you're just a female; you surely don't know how to write a letter. phht. (said with a snotty english sort of accent)
Well, you can try what I did. Get pregnant and complain about how little space you have in your car and then wait for your in-laws to do the shopping and negotiating and basically pay for it. Not that I really thought anything was wrong with my car, but apparently mother-in-law did, so happy mother's day to me. Only thing now is I need a new vehicle and I'm not willing to go the baby route on this one.
Hi, Rose and Johnny,
If you haven't purchased your car yet, and plan on getting a preowned car, join Carfax. You can type in the vin number and the history of the car will come up. Believe me -- I was shown cars that had frame damage that I never would have been informed about without the help of the Carfax report. It was well worth the price. Also, don't forget to buy a used car from it's dealer, i.e. Toyota from Toyota so that you can get their extended warranty on their "certified" cars that won't be offered by the Honda dealer on the Toyota.
Good luck!
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