Would you feed your Kirby vacuum salesman cookies and beer?

None. I never let perfect strangers in my house.

I do not even let them in the door. About once every five years my husband lets a sales person in to see if the pitch has changed any, but they are always the same, whether selling double pane windows, vacuum cleaners, home soda makers or the wine club of the month. Way, way overpriced, buy now and save because the price goes up tomorrow.

Egh I do NOT let those type of people into my house in the first place. I remember I went over a friends house once and his wife had let a Kirby salesmen in. Mother fucker was there all damn day and even into like dinner time. Like ok dude get the hell out now… we’re kinda trying to enjoy a meal that you we’rent exactly invited to…

btw he talked her into buying that stupid vacuum as well. It broke a few months later, they got it replaced but now they barely even use it at all and instead use a cheap one from walmart.

@gailcalled “I never let perfect strangers in my house.”

Not even the perfect ones?

Dutchess, I think you have a perfect opportunity for blackmail here. One call to Mr. Kirby claiming the salesperson was drinking alcohol on the job and ate all your cookies could be grounds for firing him. A proper discount may be in order to not make that phone call.

^^ Not even the flawed ones.

Now, I am picturing Kirby with a vacuum in hand, scarfing down cookies and whole cans of beer. Pretty cute image.

I have pretty low sales resistance when I’m talking directly to a human, so I try to avoid situations like that. People don’t target me because I live in an apartment complex, but if they did, I would not let them into my house.

With workmen from my apartment complex, I’ve offered them water, iced tea, or beer on cold days.

I shoo them off at the door.

That’s exactly what I used to leave for Santa when I was an adult and Mom was still alive. I also left bran out for the reindeer—“so they’d go all night”. (Yes, I have the sense of humor of a 12-year-old sometimes. :D )

Never had a Kirby salesman at the door. The mere thought gives me the galloping yips.

“some cookies… scarfed them down. some beer, which he drank…”

What… Did he never read Hansel and Gretel?

He only had one beer, and his boss knew about it ‘cause he come over toward the end and saw him drinkin’ it. It was all quite enjoyable, actually! Neat kid. (I have no life.)

I’m looking forward to using my new Kirby on the feather mattress we use on our waterbed. It’s a shampooer too. We will see…..

Oh yeah man. I love my Kirby. It’s a drill, a ditch digger, a nail gun, a cell phone tower, and a wireless router all in one. Gonna have to get that shampooer adapter though!

LOL! Why, that’s exactly what the man said @RealEyesRealizeRealLies! Actually, what he said was “It blows, sucks and vibrates!” (It does, too.)
My husband paused and said to me, “If I hear that thing going off in the middle of the night….” I WAS SO EMBARASSED but thinking the same thing, actually.

@gailcalled Is a flawed stranger one that you met once, perhaps while you were both in disguise?

No, i’d tell that sucker to blow.

A salesman? No way.

You have three days to rescind the contract if you want.

We let our Kirby salesman (and his supervisor) take shots of Wild Turkey before leaving our house. They were pretty cool.

Once I make the decision to let them in my house (the caveat here) I offer them whatever is appropriate. If it’s business, bottled water or soda. If it’s social or an unexpected guest – I play it by ear. Wine or a drink if I don’t think all hell will break loose as a result, and whatever snacks I have around. I once had the cable guys come and fix an internet outage during my finals – and when they worked overtime and busted their butts to prioritize my ticket, I bought pizza and gave them a six-pack for when they were off the clock.

I think it’s nice what you did for the Kirby guy. I mean, it’s annoying to deal with salesman, but if he’s working in vacuum sales, he’s probably low on other options unless he really likes vacuums. He works in an outdated profession and he’s probably treated like crap all day and probably doesn’t make much. A little humanity and kindness can’t hurt if you were okay with it.

I didn’t know that those guys were still around. I bought a Kirby from a wholesale warehouse. It didn’t have a Kirby label but it has a very powerful motor and uses Kirby parts. I paid $95 for it. That was years ago and we use it downstairs because it’s too heavy to be climbing stairs with it.

We just bought triple pane windows for downstairs. The guy didn’t have to try too hard because the original windows are a mess and we like the 50 year warranty from a local manufacturer.

I need to get my husband to answer this question. He was working for Kirby when we met 22 years ago. He’s got some stories!

@jonsblond So, how many beers did you feed him when he visited?

What does he think of Kirby vacuum cleaners @jonsblond?

And to answer the question – no. I wouldn’t serve them biscuits and alcohol. I do recall having the Kirby vacuum salesman staying for ages and ages and showing us this and that. Couldn’t get rid of him. I think it might be a sales ploy. Eventually you buy so they’ll leave. We didn’t.

@glacial haha. we met through a mutual friend. We were only 20. Not even legal. ;)

@Bellatrix They are great vacuums, but they are overpriced.

Thanks @jonsblond. That was my take too. Seemed like a good product but I can’t imagine spending so much on a vacuum.

Thanks @marinelife.

No salespeople visit here.

I’m a hospitality girl. I always had beer for my gardener/handyman pal and when I had MerryMaids to clean house I set them up with music on my computer and sodas in the fridge and left them to do their thing. People respond well to good treatment and I enjoy being friendly, hospitable and generous when I can.

I feel that sales people are there to perform a job, so if I’m not interested, I tell them before they invest too much time. If I were truly interested, I’d of course be hospitable as they would be in my home as a welcome guest.