{"id":12731,"date":"2025-03-22T14:47:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T19:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/?p=12731"},"modified":"2025-03-22T14:47:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T19:47:28","slug":"costco-hot-tub-salesman-almost-died-very-dramatic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/costco-hot-tub-salesman-almost-died-very-dramatic\/","title":{"rendered":"Costco Hot Tub Salesman (Almost Died) (Very Dramatic)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all heard of (or experienced) the mall kiosk salesman. You know, that guy at the mall who really, really<\/em> wants you to try his perfume. Do not make eye contact. Do not speak to him. Absolutely do not stop, and you might get away.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately (for you. Fortunately for me) I don\u2019t have any kiosk salesman stories. BUT. I was at Costco over spring break, where I discovered that kiosk guy apparently has a distant cousin.<\/p>\n

Let me set the scene: My mom and I are at Costco for some basic groceries. It\u2019s midafternoon. The store has a healthy bustle to it, but it\u2019s certainly not crowded. We\u2019ve walked almost to the back of the store; past the TVs and home appliances, past the giant shelves of wholesale goods, on our way to the refrigerator section where we can check off one of the last items on the list: butter. But to get to our destination, we have to walk by something else.<\/p>\n

Hot tubs.<\/p>\n

We do not have a hot tub. We have never had a hot tub. I do not have reason to believe that we will ever get a hot tub in the future. But, my mom has apparently turned into a hot tub fan in the time I\u2019ve been away, so we stop and take a look. It won\u2019t take long. WRONG. First mistake.<\/p>\n

There are about three hot tubs right there on the Costco floor, in between us and our butter goal. There\u2019s a guy in an unassuming sweatshirt looking as well; he\u2019s probably not important. WRONG AGAIN. Second mistake.<\/p>\n

I only realize my mistakes when the guy opens his mouth and says, \u201cYou looking for a hot tub?\u201d<\/p>\n

I then watch in horror as my mom commits the three sales sins: she makes eye contact, she smiles, and she starts making conversation<\/em>. Three strikes; we\u2019re out.<\/p>\n

The conversation goes something like this:<\/p>\n

My mom: \u201cI wish. I\u2019d love one but my husband\u2019s not sold on the idea. And these are pretty pricey.\u201d (okay\u2026 now we walk away)<\/p>\n

Salesman: \u201cI see. Well these aren\u2019t the only models we have! There\u2019s multiple colors and sizes and [more hot tub-y features]!\u201d (please stop talking to us)<\/p>\n

My mom: (polite hum of agreement) (She\u2019s not following me in the away<\/em> direction)<\/p>\n

Salesman: \u201cWe actually work directly with the retailer, a local place here in KC. It\u2019s great; they do all the repairs and everything. You actually get a warranty through them\u2026\u201d (he keeps going about\u2026 hot tub things)<\/p>\n

After a couple more feature pitches and some pleasantries are exchanged, we finally get out of there unscathed as he moves onto his next victim.<\/p>\n

But it did get me thinking about sales. That guy wasn\u2019t really interested in if my mom was interested or not, or what exactly she was looking for\u2014he was just looking for anyone to pitch to, and most of those people are just people trying to get groceries. Not a great sales plan, methinks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all heard of (or experienced) the mall kiosk salesman. You know, that guy at the mall who really, really wants you to try his perfume. Do not make eye contact. Do not speak to him. Absolutely do not stop, and you might get away. Unfortunately (for you. Fortunately for me) I don\u2019t have any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3185,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12732,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12731\/revisions\/12732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}