Inspired by my daughter, I am doing a "funny" story today.
When we lived in Green River, Wyoming, we decided to purchase a new van. I did all the homework on what we wanted, what options, etc., and we decided on a Plymouth Voyager. We knew the price we were looking for - we had done quite a bit of shopping around.
We got a price from Salt Lake City - a bigger city with more choices, but wanted to see what our local dealer could do for us. I went in and spoke with a salesman, told him what I wanted, etc. He quoted me a price that was only $300 higher than that of SLC, so we decided to "buy local".
I sat down with the salesman, filled out all the forms to order the vehicle (they didn't have one on the lot). I chose all the options I wanted, color, etc. I asked him how long it would be before delivery. He told me 3 weeks. Great! Everything was all set.
When we were about 2 weeks out from delivery, we decided to put our old van up for sale. It sold in about a week, so we needed another vehicle. Since Shyla was close to driving age, we bought a little Cadillac Cimmaron as an interim car.
Another week went by and I called the dealer to ask about the delivery date. The salesman said to me,"I didn't put the order in. You didn't have your HUSBAND come in to verify the order."
Now if you have ever seen me upset, multiply that by about 1,000 times. I could not believe the gall of this man. For one, he never told me I had to have my husband confirm the order, and secondly, what if I didn't have a husband????? He had done all of the credit checks, so he knew we were good for the money. I was so appalled, I was beyond words.
He back pedaled and said he might be able to get us what we want from another area dealer. After a bit he called back and said he had found EXACTLY what I had ordered - except it was a different color, didn't have the CD player, and, oh yeah, you would have to pay extra for the upgraded hub caps. But it was EXACTLY what I had ordered!!!
I told him to forget it. I would buy my vehicle somewhere else, and would tell all my friends about this experience as well. He was totally unconcerned!!
We ended up buying our van from a place in Idaho, and it was a great deal.
The moral to the story??? Male chauvinism is alive and well - at least in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
Well sexism is alive and kicking. I had a guy try to explain to me why I needed to have my new tires balanced. I enjoyed telling him I was a mechanical engineer and understood the why tires needed to be balanced.
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