Strangers In the Mall
"Hi!"
"Hi there!"
"Hi, miss...."
"Hi, ma'am..."
"'scuse me, miss?"
" 'scuse me, ma'am?"
Nowadays, whenever I'm in the mall, and I hear a guy say this stuff to me, I immediately think 'oh, crap....he's going to try to sell me a cell phone...ignore him and keep walking...'
Didn't used to be that way, though. In the not-too-distant past, if I heard a guy say "Hi there!" or "Hi, miss," I'd think it was a guy who wanted to meet me. If the guy said "'scuse me, ma'am?" it could mean that I dropped something or had left something in a store.
Now it's just the call of the Renegade Cell Phone Kiosk Dude. And it's annoying.
Having worked in the mall, and across from a cell phone kiosk, I think I can say I've seen it all and heard it all when it comes to sleazoid ways of getting women's attention. It was horrific to watch and even more horrific to have to deal with when a new crop of kiosk guys took over and didn't know that I worked in the store across the way.
And that was pretty much every week--sometimes twice in one week. Cell Phone Kiosk Dudes have very short shelf lives.
It's an ugly business. Often they get paid by the number of phones they sell. The managers make it sound like its cake and convince the guys that if they're real go-getters, they'll clean up and be driving a Porche in less than a year.
Most are there less than a month.
When they didn't annoy the crap out of me, I often felt sorry for the Cell Phone Kiosk Dudes. They reminded me of the guys who used to sell steak knives and Fuller brushes door-to-door back in the '50's and early '60's--before that became a dangerous thing to do (Fuller brushes go back further, though, I know.) They're go-getters of one stripe or another, with short attention spans, looking to make Big Cash.
They just haven't figured out that there ain't a lot of big cash in cell phone sales--no matter what the managers say.
They're also the kinds of guys who fall for pyramid schemes. I remember one go-getter friend of mine who once dragged me to an A.L Williams meeting. They knew they were a pyramid scheme, and surreptitiously acknoledged it--but used an inverted pyramid, thus giving the impression that it wasn't a pyramid scheme.
That is, if you dumb enough to believe an inverted pyramid is somehow different than a point-up pyramid. A pyramid's a pyramid--pure and simple. And no matter how you position it, a pyramid scheme is a pyramid scheme.
Quick talking, and a pair of titties with long hair, can get a guy to think that he's seeing something revolutionary when all he's really seeing is the old ponzi in a sexy package.
Luckily I was able to whack some sense into my friend's head before he became the next victim. Took a long, "listen-to-me" conversation, but it worked.
So, if you've got a young male friend who's thinking of going into Cell Phone Sales at the local kiosks, because it will maybe help him with his tuition, or be that great second job--do him a favor and smack some sense into his head. Perhaps remind him that if he gets associated with the Cell Phone Kiosk Dudes the simple "hi there!" that used to get him a glance might end up getting him a purse to the head.
Just a thought.
"Hi there!"
"Hi, miss...."
"Hi, ma'am..."
"'scuse me, miss?"
" 'scuse me, ma'am?"
Nowadays, whenever I'm in the mall, and I hear a guy say this stuff to me, I immediately think 'oh, crap....he's going to try to sell me a cell phone...ignore him and keep walking...'
Didn't used to be that way, though. In the not-too-distant past, if I heard a guy say "Hi there!" or "Hi, miss," I'd think it was a guy who wanted to meet me. If the guy said "'scuse me, ma'am?" it could mean that I dropped something or had left something in a store.
Now it's just the call of the Renegade Cell Phone Kiosk Dude. And it's annoying.
Having worked in the mall, and across from a cell phone kiosk, I think I can say I've seen it all and heard it all when it comes to sleazoid ways of getting women's attention. It was horrific to watch and even more horrific to have to deal with when a new crop of kiosk guys took over and didn't know that I worked in the store across the way.
And that was pretty much every week--sometimes twice in one week. Cell Phone Kiosk Dudes have very short shelf lives.
It's an ugly business. Often they get paid by the number of phones they sell. The managers make it sound like its cake and convince the guys that if they're real go-getters, they'll clean up and be driving a Porche in less than a year.
Most are there less than a month.
When they didn't annoy the crap out of me, I often felt sorry for the Cell Phone Kiosk Dudes. They reminded me of the guys who used to sell steak knives and Fuller brushes door-to-door back in the '50's and early '60's--before that became a dangerous thing to do (Fuller brushes go back further, though, I know.) They're go-getters of one stripe or another, with short attention spans, looking to make Big Cash.
They just haven't figured out that there ain't a lot of big cash in cell phone sales--no matter what the managers say.
They're also the kinds of guys who fall for pyramid schemes. I remember one go-getter friend of mine who once dragged me to an A.L Williams meeting. They knew they were a pyramid scheme, and surreptitiously acknoledged it--but used an inverted pyramid, thus giving the impression that it wasn't a pyramid scheme.
That is, if you dumb enough to believe an inverted pyramid is somehow different than a point-up pyramid. A pyramid's a pyramid--pure and simple. And no matter how you position it, a pyramid scheme is a pyramid scheme.
Quick talking, and a pair of titties with long hair, can get a guy to think that he's seeing something revolutionary when all he's really seeing is the old ponzi in a sexy package.
Luckily I was able to whack some sense into my friend's head before he became the next victim. Took a long, "listen-to-me" conversation, but it worked.
So, if you've got a young male friend who's thinking of going into Cell Phone Sales at the local kiosks, because it will maybe help him with his tuition, or be that great second job--do him a favor and smack some sense into his head. Perhaps remind him that if he gets associated with the Cell Phone Kiosk Dudes the simple "hi there!" that used to get him a glance might end up getting him a purse to the head.
Just a thought.
posted by Tish Grier at 3:01 PM
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