Ah, that time of year again...snow, mistletoe, Kirby salesmen

Yesterday was pretty tough–I was up at 4:30, at work by 6, and home by 2:45 to watch the kids (4 kids now–our two and two from Whitney’s BFF Sarah). While firehosing me with all the TODOs (change this, change that, sippy cup, etc.), Whitney mentioned, “Oh, and a guy from Kirby should be here from 3 to 5 to clean the carpets and shampoo the carpets for free.”

:-) I was not too thrilled with this, as I’d been here before. Twenty-three years ago…a guy showed up at Hacienda Combs and sold Mom & Dad a Kirby Heritage II vacuum. Thing was solid steel, essentially unbreakable. It was also $1200 give-or-take. (According to The CPI calculator, that’s $2400 in today’s money, folks!)

Anyway, the guy shows up, and does the song-and dance with this new Kirby that’s self-powered, but (to me) made of the cheapest plastic they could find. And the guy’s sales technique…ugh.

“Please buy one.”

“Woncha just buy one so I can go home?”

Yeah, you can do that with exactly two things: Jewelry and MINI Coopers. Not vacuum cleaners.

And the price for this jewel of cost-cutting and poor construction? $1600.

Here’s a link on some Kirby Vacuum cleaner sales practices.