"I Got Hooked Up"

I have an inspiration for this post. Feel free to check out my cousin Brad's blog linked on the upper left. He recently posted a "Psychology of Sales and Suckers Theory" with emphasis on people wanting to feel like he got a good deal. I was writing a comment on his post and I realized that my comment was a mile long so I figured I'd just post my own feelings about "getting a deal."

Let me note that nothing makes me laugh harder than hearing people tell me they "got a good deal" on whatever it is they recently bought. I've heard it from friends, family, acquaintance, strangers, and on and on. Lest I forget to mention my glory years at the Comcastic (Oh, memories!) nothing makes people happier than the feeling of "getting a deal."

In my experience, the king of all "deals" is the wedding ring. Especially down in Provo, everybody seemed to "know a guy" that gave them some type of special discount. It was especially funny if I knew or found out that the "guy" they knew was really the guy they met at the mall when they walked in for the first time. Honestly, even if somebody got so worked over that they paid for "rust proofing" on their diamond ring, they'd never admit it when asked about it.

Rings are certainly not the only "deal" purchase. In fact, any type of big purchase will always qualify as a "deal" buy. Bought a new car? A house? Furniture? I can appreciate wanting to feel like you got a good deal on a bigger purchase. I usually take the viewpoint that whoever it is probably did their research and knew a decent deal when they saw it. But telling me you got a good deal on a pair of shoes? Pants? A shirt! If you really want a $50 pair of shoes, just pay the money and get over it.

Rachel can attest that I get so riled up when people tell me about how they got a sweet deal that I make it a point to NOT say that I got a deal when I talk about a purchase. I usually don't think I did anyways, I just hope I paid a fair price.

In case you're curious, I bought Rachel's wedding ring at the Shane Company (hey, 20 years of radio commercials worked on me). I simply walked in and bought a ring. A couple years later I asked a guy who worked for a different jewelry store (Wilson Diamonds) if I made a good purchase. He told me that I maybe could have found a better deal but I certainly didn't get worked over. Basically he said I paid a fair price. Of course, he informed me that he could have got me a sweet deal (obviously the salesman knows what the people want to hear!). I can live with paying a fair price. Hopefully I've sneaked in a few true "deals" in life to counter the multiple times I've been the sucker.