(Well, actually, I didn't. I wore sweats and a ponytail most of the weekend, but now that I think of it, I may have to pull the Monroe gig next year.)
It was Chad's 38th birthday. We had a great time eating Chinese food, eating fish and chips, eating cake, eating pie...a lot of eating. We also went to see True Grit which was amazing. (See my review here.) And we did a little reminiscing.
Up until we had kids, we always took advantage of the three day weekend and spent his birthday in Sin City. For Chad's 30th, and our first trip to Vegas together, we booked rooms at the Sahara, looking forward to a little gambling, a show or two and a break from wedding preparations.
Immediately after we checked in, we walked past a woman with a thick New York accent offering free show tickets and meals. Being Vegas Veterans, we knew that it was a time share gimmick. We said no thanks, rolled our eyes at each other and continued on our way.
Well, at least I continued on my way. Chad was stopped in his tracks when she called out to him, "Has anyone ever told you you look like a young Richard Gere?"
Pivoting on one foot, he slowly turned around, "You know. I always thought so."
 |
| What do you think? Twins? |
"Well, you do. C'mere and let me tell you about this exciting offer." Like a moth to a flame, Chad walked over. Within minutes we were booked for a tour.
You've all heard hard sales pitches. You've been to a car dealer who nearly tackled you as you left the lot. You've been to an open house where the real estate agent wanted to run the figures for you. There's actually a term for this type of sales pitch. The longer someone talks to you, the more indebted you feel and the more likely you are to buy something just because you feel obligated. Time share sales pitches are the worst.
We toured the very nice, actually quite inexpensive condos. We listened to the pitch. And then, they sent over one salesman after another to try to get us to buy. At several points, Chad and I were convinced that we needed a time share in Vegas. We were convinced that without one, we were being wasteful with our money and missing out on The Opportunity of a Lifetime. Whenever we said no, the salesman, all goodwill, would say, "No problem. Let me just get Frank to help finish up." Frank would come over and the pitch would begin again.
We spent seven hours going from one salesman to another. They don't feed you. They don't give you anything to drink besides coffee or water. You're trapped because you had to take a shuttle to get to the property. All in all, they could give the CIA tips on how to break a person. Balloons were popping as people finally caved in around us.
Chad, stalwart, matter-of-fact Chad started to look as he was going to cave. His eyes got a glazed, wild look that I recognized from our fellow time share prisoners. My hands started shaking as I realized we might end up with a vacation time share. Finally, we made it to a tiny room where "Frank" gave us one last chance. One last chance to invest in an opportunity that we'd enjoy for decades to come.
Sensing the fresh air and light of The Outside, we stood strong.
No comments:
Post a Comment