Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Never Mess With a Firecracker!

It's that time again over at Mama Kat's. Head on over to participate.

This week I decided to go with #4's prompt.....

4.) Write about an interaction you had with a salesman.

Oh how I'll never forget this. It was me, my husband (fiance at the time) and his sister. It was somewhere around 1998. We thought we would take a drive out to some dealerships since my husband was interested in looking to buy a Dodge Stealth or the Mitsubishi 3000GT. They both look very similar.

We made our way to a dealership in Roseville, CA near Sacramento. It was probably around 7pm that night. We were looking around and a salesman came up to help us. We told him what we were looking for and the guy said he had a used Mitsubishi 3000GT. It was red and my hubby wanted to take it for a test drive. The car is really only a 2 seater and I wanted to go for the test drive too. The sales guy said he needed some sort of collateral to let my husband drive it without the sales guy with him so my husband gave him the keys to his truck. We took it for a spin and yep, my man wanted the car.

When we returned we went into one of the offices to sit down and hash out some numbers. The guy showed us a deal and it went back and forth but we really felt like he was trying to rip us off. We were young and he probably saw gullibility. My husband asked me to call my dad to get his opinion on the offer. My dad said he would walk out that it was too much money. I get off the phone and I said my dad didn't think it was a good deal. The sales guy has the nerve to tell ME my dad doesn't know what he's talking about. The tension in the room I must say thickened. You could cut it with a knife.

We told the guy he was trying to rip us off and that we just wanted the keys back to our car and we'll just leave. He tried to explain to us that it was a great deal and telling us of the performance of the car (who gives a shit! The car is USED!) and why the price was what it was. We told him it was too much for it being a used car. He said he would be right back, see if he could come up with another deal. We watched him out there talking with the guys making the offers. Meanwhile, we see him come back, without our car keys. This guy doesn't get it does he?

He offers us the new deal and we're getting pissed at this point. We tell him we just want our keys. He wouldn't give them to us so what happens next? Does my man who is 6'5", 250 lbs (at the time. He's bigger now.) get up in this guys face? No.....I DO!! (I told you I was a firecracker, right?) Little 'ol me who is all of 5'3", 135 lbs gets into this guys face. I couldn't help myself. This guy was pissing me off and I had had enough of his crap. I was telling to go "F" himself and to give us our "F'n" keys. Their was yelling and cussing. Honestly, the whole situation was surreal. My husband had gotten up at this point and got into the guys face where at that point the guy went to go get the car keys.

I just have to say, we haven't been back to that dealership. We've told our friends and anyone else about this story hopefully to deter them from ever going through what we went through. I just can't believe the audacity of that guy to tell me my dad doesn't know what he's talking about and to keep my husband's car keys from him. Did he REALLY think he was gonna sell a car like that??? Just another arragant salesman!!!


16 comments:

Linda said...

What a lousy situation and salesman! He was an arragant SOB who I am sure didn't last long in that porfession! JERK!

Stacey said...

So sad. Sad as in pathetic that he thinks that strategy would work. What I find ironic, is I bet that his family hears a complete different version of his sales stories when he goes home at the end of the day. You've got to wonder if he sees anything wrong with his behaviour.

goodbye said...

Wow! Thats happened to me and my dad before, they kept my dads keys. I hate dealerships like that. I would of done exactly what you did.

Mommynightowl said...

I can't believe he held your keys captive trying to sell you a car.

way to go getting in his face!

Unknown said...

Oh my gosh! I have heard car salesman nightmares but that is definitely a bad one! I am so glad you stood up for yourselves : ). Did your husband ever get his dream car?

Shawn said...

Ugh! I hate salesmen like that!

Charlene said...

Wow, that is crazy...you better believe I would have come across that desk.

Denise said...

Ewww I can't stand car salesmen. They really can be pushy and take advantage of folks! Grrr!

Connie said...

Visiting from Mama Kat's!

That infuriates me! Good for you for standing up to him! I would have done the same thing!

Rock, Paper, Scissors said...

hmmm. I have never bought a car from a dealership, but I will be sure to bring a spare set of keys.

If your dad is anything like my dad, he is the smartest thing in the world. How dare some one EVEN imply otherwise!

K said...

Wow! Crazy!! A car held hostage by extortion.
Glad the story ends well.
Blessigns!

Jaime said...

wow. another (very good) reason to hate car salesmen.

KatBouska said...

I just love it when they leave the room to go "talk to their boss" and come back with something else. It's all such a ridiculous show.

Unknown said...

Hi there, visiting from Mama Kat's! I despise car salesmen as well (for the most part)...I think they must go to school to be extra smarmy and sleazy but insulting your family is taking it a step too far!

Anonymous said...

Girl-hahaha-I think we are long lost sisters!!

Danyele Easterhaus said...

lemme tell you something...my little 4'9" bod will def yell in a face if i have too. and you are right...dynamite comes in small packages! soooo cute!