13 March 2007 Bob/Ron/Bill

Sally is doing really well physically, considering the driving around we have been doing and the warmer weather we are having (now up in the 80’s)
The pattern has been to do 2 or 3 RV dealerships a day. We get to ride in their golf buggy as we are driven around to look at their TTs, interestingly enough the sales people are interesting:
They are almost all called single syllable names: Bob, Bill and Ron seem favourites.
They all live happily married lives, having been married for at least 30 years (except one guy, who although about 60 had only been married a year).
I wonder if they have assumed identities tailored to their impression of the customer.
When you arrive at the ‘Lot’ they are usually old guys, sat in rocking chairs on a porch (all sales offices have covered porches, think western movie set). You can see them pulling out the persona they will use.
“Oh here come a couple of likely customers, they look like ‘furriners’, so ai’d better, talk slow and choose an easy name.”
“He looks harassed, so ai’d reckon they bin married a long time, so ai’d better develop empathy by having a little woman back home cookin grits and gizzards for me.”
Of course we are too soft with them and are often perilously close to buying from at least half of them.
The inspection routine is a bit like Goldilocks and the 3 bears. They always start you off in a crappy, short, under accessorised and overpriced TT. We look at it, say its lovely, but it’s too small. So we move to the next, larger and slightly better. (This TT is lovely, but the bed is too short, the bathroom has a shower curtain, not a glass door, I can feel that there is a pea under this mattress.). Finally we move to a top of the range, with everything, including a kitchen sink, at a price which we all know is unaffordable, so we look at it and say “This is just right, it’s got everything, even a kitchen sink, but we can’t afford it”. “Ah”, says Ron/Bill/Bob, “let me check with my manager”. “Oh, I think that we can just drop by $3000 dollars if you want to buy it soon”. We say “oh, Um that’s really great, we will have to look carefully at our budget”. Then we all ride back to the office, have a cup of water and say thank you, swop cards and addresses, then move on to the next Dealer, named Bob/Bill/Ron