My Ad
My ad STILL hasn’t made it into the paper. The kid who sold me the ad is a bit green. He promised a bunch of things he couldn’t promise (like the delivery date). I hope my gentle coaxing pushes him toward being a reputable salesman and he doesn’t continue his slip into being slimy.
Me: “Hey Ben. Is my ad in the paper yet?”
Him: “[insert hamming and hawing here, and then…] “I’m not sure.”
Me: “Well, you said it was going to go in at either Easter or the weekend after. It’s now 1 week after that time. So…. What’s up? Is it in? Is it going in soon? You went to church yesterday, didn’t you?”
Him: “[insert hamming, hawing, mentions that he wasn’t such a good catholic and promises that he would drive to the church right that moment to find out and bring a copy right to my door]”
Me: “No, I don’t need that. I just want to know if my ad is in the paper. I paid $xxx for this ad and I just want to know when it’s going in.”
Him: “[An explanation of how flawed the listing process is and how the company had originally told him one thing and then another about how long it takes to put a listing in.]”
Me: “Why don’t you give me your boss’ phone number and I’ll tell him how I’m unhappy that you had initially been mislead.” [Of course, I suspected he was telling a little white lie about his original knowledge and his current knowledge… this phone call would either help get my ad in on-time, or get him in trouble]
Him: [He gave me the number and then an explanation of how Churches preprint their newsletters sometimes up to 3 weeks in advance. He promised that my ad would be in next week’s newsletter.]
Me: “Don’t promise things you aren’t sure about. Why don’t you make some phone calls and find out when the ad is going in. Give me a call back later today or tomorrow.”
Blah blah… [insert blogging minutia here]
He called me back and said it was going in “soon” or some crap. I don’t even remember exactly what he said.