This is what happens when your mother decides to replace a decade old ref.
After years of experience, you kind of learn what you want in a refrigerator. So you talk about this as a family. You want a really wide one, in case you need to refrigerate a cochinillo. You want one with a gigantic freezer, because the old one wouldn't allow you to buy a box of corn dogs, a package of french fries, and a box of White Castle hamburgers all at the same time. You want nothing to do with plastic shelving anymore, because, let's face it- it cracks. You want a freezer that can actually freeze ice cream, not keep it in a precariously half-melted state. Maybe you want a cold water dispenser built in, so you wouldn't have to open the fridge too much and waste electricity (Save the penguins!). Throw in perhaps a built-in ice maker, and you're good to go.
The old one survived hell and high water in our crazy kitchen. And in deference, I think, we've put off replacing the old girl for quite a while. But after a few more repairs that did nothing but allow her to give off a few whiffs of cold air, we've decided it was time to go.
So you go with your mom to an appliance madness event at the mall. She gives a budget. She oohs and ahhs at some pretty snazzy but ridiculously expensive options. Then she makes a beeline to a ref that seems to fit the bill and is well within the budget. After over half an hour that she has not decided to pull out her credit card, you leave her with your siblings there while she quizzes the salesman about the unit.
You go on over to the really nice refrigerators, the ones well beyond the budget, and you try to haggle for a good deal, just for kicks. You are pulled away later only to grab dinner and over dinner ponder on whether getting The One Within the Budget. After dinner, mother goes back to quizzing the salesman who is by now probably simply dying to make the sale. Oh maybe another fifteen minutes, give or take. And you go back to haggling on the other side just for kicks. Php111,000, twelve months zero interest. Or Php99,000 cash. You get a free stand fan and an adaptor, too! No? He says he can give it at Php105,000. No? Salesman goes to his manager. He tells you: Php103,000. All that time with one eye on my mother who had been quizzing his all too eager competitor.
You say, no, maybe for the last time, before you rejoin your mother and help her finally decide on getting that One Within the Budget.
Salesman goes back to his manager, determined to meet his quota or maybe even surpass it, also maybe for the last time. He comes back with Php100,000, on zero interest, and with the free stand fan and adaptor. You think, finally, now we're talkin'.
So you call your mother over and share with her that really great deal that you got on this awesome ref. You won't believe how much it originally cost. It's still over budget. But it's close...
That, my friends, is how my mother decided to get her Fisher and Paykel three-door refrigerator after talking to the salesman for The One Within the Budget for a little over an hour and Fisher&Paykel's salesman in under five minutes.
After years of experience, you kind of learn what you want in a refrigerator. So you talk about this as a family. You want a really wide one, in case you need to refrigerate a cochinillo. You want one with a gigantic freezer, because the old one wouldn't allow you to buy a box of corn dogs, a package of french fries, and a box of White Castle hamburgers all at the same time. You want nothing to do with plastic shelving anymore, because, let's face it- it cracks. You want a freezer that can actually freeze ice cream, not keep it in a precariously half-melted state. Maybe you want a cold water dispenser built in, so you wouldn't have to open the fridge too much and waste electricity (Save the penguins!). Throw in perhaps a built-in ice maker, and you're good to go.The old one survived hell and high water in our crazy kitchen. And in deference, I think, we've put off replacing the old girl for quite a while. But after a few more repairs that did nothing but allow her to give off a few whiffs of cold air, we've decided it was time to go.
So you go with your mom to an appliance madness event at the mall. She gives a budget. She oohs and ahhs at some pretty snazzy but ridiculously expensive options. Then she makes a beeline to a ref that seems to fit the bill and is well within the budget. After over half an hour that she has not decided to pull out her credit card, you leave her with your siblings there while she quizzes the salesman about the unit.
You go on over to the really nice refrigerators, the ones well beyond the budget, and you try to haggle for a good deal, just for kicks. You are pulled away later only to grab dinner and over dinner ponder on whether getting The One Within the Budget. After dinner, mother goes back to quizzing the salesman who is by now probably simply dying to make the sale. Oh maybe another fifteen minutes, give or take. And you go back to haggling on the other side just for kicks. Php111,000, twelve months zero interest. Or Php99,000 cash. You get a free stand fan and an adaptor, too! No? He says he can give it at Php105,000. No? Salesman goes to his manager. He tells you: Php103,000. All that time with one eye on my mother who had been quizzing his all too eager competitor.
You say, no, maybe for the last time, before you rejoin your mother and help her finally decide on getting that One Within the Budget.
Salesman goes back to his manager, determined to meet his quota or maybe even surpass it, also maybe for the last time. He comes back with Php100,000, on zero interest, and with the free stand fan and adaptor. You think, finally, now we're talkin'.
So you call your mother over and share with her that really great deal that you got on this awesome ref. You won't believe how much it originally cost. It's still over budget. But it's close...
That, my friends, is how my mother decided to get her Fisher and Paykel three-door refrigerator after talking to the salesman for The One Within the Budget for a little over an hour and Fisher&Paykel's salesman in under five minutes.
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