I know I’ve talked in the past about the various characters who wandered in and out of the stores I worked in.

There were the tire kickers, the be-backs, the rude, unhappy people, and a rogues’ gallery of others.

Some of them were even, occasionally, actual paying customers.

And then there were the dawdlers, customers who would kick tires for days, weeks, or months, agonizing over their purchase decision.
Sometimes to the point where, by the time they made up their minds the thing they wished to purchase was no longer available.

In a similar vein, there was one long-time tire kicker, a guy named Bernard, with whom I spoke about televisions or a weekly basis, every time he came in to kick the tires.

I don’t begrudge anyone a long decision making process. But at some point it goes beyond just weighing the pros and cons, and becomes an exercise in savoring the possibilities.

So I had engaged with Bernard many times on his fact finding missions, but never got anywhere near where I would consider him ready to be closed on a deal.

A quick digression here, as a store manager, I was compensated on both personal sales (which is unusual for managers to be expected to sell), as well as on overall store profitability.

The key here is that my monthly profit bonus hinged on hitting not only a gross profit dollars target, but maintain a set percentage point.

That meant that if my target GP % was 24% for the month, if I came in at 23.9%: NO BONUS

That’s relevant because being mindful of where my percentage was impacted what kind of latitude I would give to special deals, above and beyond ordinary.

Back to the story, Bernard and I had gotten to the point where he was fixated on one model of 36-inch CRT TV.

Since it was the end of the month, and I had the latitude, I cooked up a price, a steal of a deal, and presented it to him,

“Bernard, if you take this TV right now, you can have it for this” and I told him the price.

Instead of taking it, he pulled a paper dayplanner (remember those?) and a pencil, made a note in his book, bid me good night and left the store.

I was dumbfounded.

I didn’t see him again for three months.

Imagine my surprise when he showed up on the first day of a new month, and said “I’ll take that TV now for that price.”

I know it was petty of me, but I took a certain joy in reminding him that my exact words were “If you take this TV right now” and that it was in fact three months after right now. So, no, the TV is now this price, and gestured to the price tag.