Post by bluegoatwoods on Oct 12, 2017 20:44:44 GMT -5
A couple of the last posts reminded me of one marketing gimmick that we ran into once.
I took the family to Disney World (a sinister, sinister place itself by the way) and while we were checking into our hotel my wife spotted the little fold up table at the side of the lobby with the sign that said "Free Disney. Ask how".
Being a natural born sucker, she was hot to find out just what they had to offer. I don't remember my exact words to her. But I do remember that I was being gentle and pleading. Something like, "Please, please don't go over there. No one gets free Disney. One way or the other, it's a scam". But she went over there anyway because she's capable of being quite a rube.
She came back and explained to me that all we had to do was go to their 'pitch' for the time share apartments they were offering. It would take an hour (right!) and they'd pay each adult $50. At that time a day pass to Disney cost about $50. I think it was $54. But no matter. This was their rationale for saying "Free Disney".
I even agreed to go. I knew it wouldn't be that easy. But I also knew that I wouldn't convince my wife. So....
We had to be there early enough that we had to drive a pretty good distance in Orlando morning rush traffic. Edge of the city type stuff. Roads that had never been improved to handle the development that had gone on, plus a construction zone or two. Things like that. The sort of place you resent being maneuvered into. Not to mention the fact that we should have been making our way to that darned magic kingdom.
So we got there and we parked and walked on in. I'll grant that the place looked nice. Which probably meant that I couldn't afford it anyway. But I'd gone that far and figured I'd see it through. Or my wife would make me see it through. She wasn't calculating the cost of that place, I don't think. She tends to assume I can be made to pay for most things she might want.
We found ourselves among what must have been five hundred suckers just like us. In nice, straight lines leading up to, apparently, some sort of administrative building. I remember there being more than two lines. Probably three or four.
These lines were long and straight. They were kept straight by employees/salespeople walking up and down these lines. They were literally shouting/barking, like beer vendors in a ballpark, "GET YOUR CREDIT CARDS READY, FOLKS!"
I'm not making that up. That really was exactly what they were yelling.
I turned to my wife and asked her if she could now see that we were just sheep waiting in line for the shearing.
I don't remember what she answered. But she agreed to leave and we went to Disney.
But that took a while and my kids were screwed out of a couple hours at Disney.
One reason the marketers are so damned obnoxious is that so, so many people are all ears if the marketers merely say, "I'll give you something for nothing".
I took the family to Disney World (a sinister, sinister place itself by the way) and while we were checking into our hotel my wife spotted the little fold up table at the side of the lobby with the sign that said "Free Disney. Ask how".
Being a natural born sucker, she was hot to find out just what they had to offer. I don't remember my exact words to her. But I do remember that I was being gentle and pleading. Something like, "Please, please don't go over there. No one gets free Disney. One way or the other, it's a scam". But she went over there anyway because she's capable of being quite a rube.
She came back and explained to me that all we had to do was go to their 'pitch' for the time share apartments they were offering. It would take an hour (right!) and they'd pay each adult $50. At that time a day pass to Disney cost about $50. I think it was $54. But no matter. This was their rationale for saying "Free Disney".
I even agreed to go. I knew it wouldn't be that easy. But I also knew that I wouldn't convince my wife. So....
We had to be there early enough that we had to drive a pretty good distance in Orlando morning rush traffic. Edge of the city type stuff. Roads that had never been improved to handle the development that had gone on, plus a construction zone or two. Things like that. The sort of place you resent being maneuvered into. Not to mention the fact that we should have been making our way to that darned magic kingdom.
So we got there and we parked and walked on in. I'll grant that the place looked nice. Which probably meant that I couldn't afford it anyway. But I'd gone that far and figured I'd see it through. Or my wife would make me see it through. She wasn't calculating the cost of that place, I don't think. She tends to assume I can be made to pay for most things she might want.
We found ourselves among what must have been five hundred suckers just like us. In nice, straight lines leading up to, apparently, some sort of administrative building. I remember there being more than two lines. Probably three or four.
These lines were long and straight. They were kept straight by employees/salespeople walking up and down these lines. They were literally shouting/barking, like beer vendors in a ballpark, "GET YOUR CREDIT CARDS READY, FOLKS!"
I'm not making that up. That really was exactly what they were yelling.
I turned to my wife and asked her if she could now see that we were just sheep waiting in line for the shearing.
I don't remember what she answered. But she agreed to leave and we went to Disney.
But that took a while and my kids were screwed out of a couple hours at Disney.
One reason the marketers are so damned obnoxious is that so, so many people are all ears if the marketers merely say, "I'll give you something for nothing".
