The Story of the Anti-Sales Guy

I REALLY wanted a dictaphone.

I had this wonderful idea that I would interview interesting people I knew and then tell their story, and a dictaphone was a great way to record these interviews as well as my own ideas.

I didn’t really care too much about the price either.

I just wanted it like it was yesterday.

Luckily, there was a shop in town which catered for all things ‘business’; it had the usual range of laptop bags, office desks and chairs, and… a quality range of dictaphones.

By the time I got to the shop on my Saturday off, the money was burning a hole in my pocket.

I selected the dictaphone I wanted and was on my way to the counter when I encountered him.

The anti-sales guy.

Apparently, according to him, the model I had chosen was not fit for my purposes — although he had not fully investigated what they were and largely made the assumption up in his own head. So, I was ‘frogmarched’ back to the display and this time the one I chose was ‘not within my price range’, the next was for ‘business purposes only’ and on it went until finally, the sales (prevention) guy told me that there was absolutely nothing in the shop suitable for me!

I went to another shop and bought the only dictaphone they had and it served me perfectly well.

I never did go back to that original shop, for anything.

And I never really got to the bottom of why he would not sell me what I wanted.

Has anything similar ever happened to you?

Originally published at https://www.eleanorgoold.com on December 21, 2019.