[Augustine23556]

As a former retail manager for a nationwide chain, I can tell you that bargaining would make a lot of sense in getting rid of slow-moving inventory. Our gross margin (price charged minus what it cost us to obtain the merchandise) was what paid the bills, and it always seemed nonsensical to me to let merchandise just sit there for months (and even years!) rather than finding a price that would allow us to move it out, make a little money on it (or at least break even) and make room for newer merchandise. Yet prices were determined by national headquarters, and there was no leeway. Also, at one time I was in a market with a lot of Israeli and Middle Eastern immigrants. They expected not only to bargain, but if I didn’t have something in inventory and could not obtain it, they would just stand there and ‘talk about it’ as though they expected the item they wanted just to materialize out of nowhere. I referred to these customers as my ‘Velveteen Rabbit clients,’ after the little boy who loved his stuffed animal so much that it became real. It almost reminds me of the Christian Eucharist (which, remember, originated in the Middle East), where the Body and Blood of Christ are ‘spoken into being’ through the words of consecration. Long jump from retail to metaphysics, eh?

User Detail :  

Name : Augustine23556, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 40, City : Columbia, State : SC, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Author]

Posts