Marketing 101

It started with my daughter, Misty, looking out my back door     

at the moss- covered patio and encroaching flora and deciding

“I am going to power wash your patio and trim your hedge as

a belated Mother’s Day present!”

“Okay, who’s going to turn that down? Haven’t considered it

before, but what the hey?”

She arrives with a big set of power clippers and a power washer

and I am impressed! Who taught my kid to do this man chore,

anyway?

In a morning, she opens up and brings light and sunshine to my

 formerly dank,,tiny little patio.

A few days later, I am looking out there, admiring her work

and I think about it returning to its former dank jungle state and in a

phone conversation, Misty suggests I seal the patio. She recommends

picking up a concrete sealant at my local hardware store.

Sealed, the moss won’t grow back and that small fact comforts me.

Then I begin to see how nice it would be to have a little table and

chairs out there, like in a little bistro in Paris, having my tea or

coffee or wine and sitting in the pleasant breeze with a book or

writing pad enjoying the ambiance of a lazy summer day.

So, I go online to see if I can find a bistro set at a reasonable price.

I am gratified to find a set on sale (or so I believe) for $110.

Free shipping. Wow! I am only too  eager to order the cute bistro

set, immediately and put it on my credit card. After all, the total with

tax is only $119.24. What a deal! It has a celebrity name of someone

who’s taste I’ve been pleased with in the past, so the photo of the set

is enough to convince me.

After only the bistro table arrives, I call the company. Ann, the customer

service lady tells me that she is sorry, that the chairs were just "display" and

they would be another hundred bucks! She pardons herself and puts me on

hold. Meanwhile I go back online and see the photo of the table and chairs

and sure enough underneath the illustration is the statement offering only

the table! I am adequately miffed! I begin to think, ‘when I get off the phone,

I am writing a complaint on YELP.’

As I am looking at it longer, I see that the price is $139.99 for the set of chairs.

(She may have set  a timer.)  Ann comes back on the line and says, “Sorry

for the misunderstanding, but usually that set is $139.99, however, I am going to

offer it to you for $100. and free shipping.”

Well, that’s better, I think. All the while, knowing that if I could have talked

with a human being in the first place, this whole incident would not have

happened.

Psychologically I have been outmaneuvered. Now I will take the deal offered

even though I feel played and I am spending almost double the money, which

makes it not that great of a deal and to add insult to my injury, as beautiful as

the granite topped table is, there is clearly a decal on it that reads: Made in

China and I feel double duped because this multi-national company has made

me a traitor to my own culture!