On Sale!
What is it with Americans and sale? I fail to understand why people here seem to pounce on anything that has an "on sale" tag, whether they need it or not. I worked at a Safeway store a couple of summers ago and it was amazing to see how each item cleared the shelves as soon as they went on sale. The change in price was usually irrelevant as opposed to the "on sale" tag. People did not have the slightest idea that the jumbo eggs were $1.14 last week and $1.10 this week. As soon as they saw an "on sale" tag over the eggs they believed that they were saving loads. I am convinced that those "on sale" tags gave those people a sudden urge for those Jumbo eggs regardless of its price. My manager had his sales strategy figured out. He would leave an item on the shelves for a week, and if it did not sell he would just add a tag that said "on sale" on big red letters over the item.
Every nine weeks or so our school does a computer surplus sale where they sell all kinds of computer junk that the school does not need. I work for Treasury Services on campus, and so I have to do the cashiering on these sales. We had one this past week and it was crazy! Between the two of us cashiers, we made a total sale of around forty thousand dollars in 2 hours. Actually, there are some really good deals that you can pick up at these sales. For instance one of my co-workers bought a very nice laptop bag for just five bucks. But there also a lot of useless stuff that you could never use and people still buy it just because it is on sale.
An old person, probably around the age of 65, walked up to the register with a couple of old CDs in his hand and asked me, "Son, how much are these?"
"They are 50 cents each sir."
I noticed that one of the CDs was a driver for an old HP printer, the kind that they never use these days. Just out of curiosity I asked him, "So do you have one of those printers sir?"
"No, I don't even have a computer. I think that my grandson will like it though. He is really into computers, you know!"
What!?
"Does he have one of those printers then?" I was certain at this point that he he had no clue what he was buying.
"I don't know. But this seems to be just too good of a deal to not take. Ring these up please."
I did not even bother to explain him what a driver does and why it will, most likely, be useless. I am sure he could afford to waste a buck. He paid $1.07 (including tax) in total and marched away proudly as if he had just cut a million dollar deal. I wonder how his grandson felt about grandpa's gift.
Astonishing, isn't it? I don't even want to talk about the sale that they have at Malls. I don't think that my writing is good enough to explain how those "sales" affect the lives of most American individuals, especially the ladies out there. Enough said.
Every nine weeks or so our school does a computer surplus sale where they sell all kinds of computer junk that the school does not need. I work for Treasury Services on campus, and so I have to do the cashiering on these sales. We had one this past week and it was crazy! Between the two of us cashiers, we made a total sale of around forty thousand dollars in 2 hours. Actually, there are some really good deals that you can pick up at these sales. For instance one of my co-workers bought a very nice laptop bag for just five bucks. But there also a lot of useless stuff that you could never use and people still buy it just because it is on sale.
An old person, probably around the age of 65, walked up to the register with a couple of old CDs in his hand and asked me, "Son, how much are these?"
"They are 50 cents each sir."
I noticed that one of the CDs was a driver for an old HP printer, the kind that they never use these days. Just out of curiosity I asked him, "So do you have one of those printers sir?"
"No, I don't even have a computer. I think that my grandson will like it though. He is really into computers, you know!"
What!?
"Does he have one of those printers then?" I was certain at this point that he he had no clue what he was buying.
"I don't know. But this seems to be just too good of a deal to not take. Ring these up please."
I did not even bother to explain him what a driver does and why it will, most likely, be useless. I am sure he could afford to waste a buck. He paid $1.07 (including tax) in total and marched away proudly as if he had just cut a million dollar deal. I wonder how his grandson felt about grandpa's gift.
Astonishing, isn't it? I don't even want to talk about the sale that they have at Malls. I don't think that my writing is good enough to explain how those "sales" affect the lives of most American individuals, especially the ladies out there. Enough said.
posted by Mediocre at 12:49 PM
2 Comments:
That's brilliant... You're right, people do go crazy for sales. Lots of times it's a way to make people spend more money than they would have otherwise, getting "second half off" or just getting them in the store... I've been guilty of it myself, but I've definitely seen people go overboard.
You write very well.
Post a Comment
<< Home