| Looking Glass He was sound asleep when suddenly a knock on his door awakened him. He jumped off the couch wondering who would be calling at this time. "Just a minute", he called as he threw on his T-shirt and headed towards the door. He opened the door to find a saleswoman in her saleswoman suit, briefcase in hand smiling at him. "Hello", she said," I'm from the Clean Looking Glass Company and I would like to show you our products". "Sorry", he said," my mirrors are all clean enough, thank you though", and he started to close the door. "But wait, you haven't experienced our products" His attempts to dissuade her were fruitless, she started without hesitation to not only display the various products she had in her briefcase but to point out all of the advantages of them. She went from mirror to mirror and then began cleaning his dirty windows. He had to admit that the product was superior to most he had used previously. What was bugging him though was how she was pointing out all the places where his mirrors and windows were not really clean. �See here, these water spots?� �look at these places that you never got really clean here, probably mold or mildew�, she pointed and scowled, "you should keep up on these." "Now", she said "you've seen what our products are capable of and if you'll remember you sent our company a response to a flyer indicating you were interested in an all-purpose cleaner and that you were willing to have a demonstration". She continued with her sales pitch. It was almost as though she couldn't help herself from talking. He had expressed interest and she knew how good the product was. She was not only well familiar with what she was selling but had seen and compared this company's Glass cleaner with many others, finding most others severely lacking. It was only when she took out her notebook and began asking him what size bottle he would like to buy that he started to have serious second thoughts about purchasing from this saleswoman. "You can buy the economy size which will last you about one year or we are having a special sale this month on family size bottle's, which in your case will last about two years. If you simply want to see if this product will meet all your cleaning needs I have a sample bottle here that I can leave with you for a trial" but. "So, Mr. James, what should I put you down for"? This question took him completely off guard. "Excuse me", the look on his face showed his confusion with what she was asking. She repeated her offer, "What size bottle would you like to buy, economy, family size, or simply allow me to leave a complementary sample here?" To repeat of the inquiry was like someone slapping him in the face. He was having a nice nap, he wasn't out shopping for Windex. Now this woman had demonstrated her window cleaner and was asking him what size bottle he wanted to buy from her? "I'm sorry", he said," if you just leave your card I will get back to you if I am interested, right now I'm not ready to buy any cleaning products." This was said as he was gently leading her towards the door which closed behind her. She looked at her briefcase and thought,"hmmmm, well I know this stuff is good, maybe I just need to tone down my pitch" Just then a seagull swooped in from the North and landed on the peak of the roof across the street. She stopped and watched the bird as he surveyed the roof and the grounds around the house and then stretched his wings and flew away. She thought to herself," the freedom of wings, one lone bird, is he going home to his mate or his family or is he just flying away to try and find one?" Just then the latch on her briefcase failed and all the cleaning product samples fell to the sidewalk. |