Waiting For The Figures

The salesman sat in a chair with his laptop on his lap. A couple sat across the coffee table from him, holding hands on the couch.

He was selling sun rooms, and he had just quoted a price for the large floor plan. He knew they were price sensitive -- the husband had confessed to being a cheapskate. So the salesman was also running the numbers for a smaller plan. While he entered the data, he talked about taking a previous client to a satisfied customer's home.

My boss told me not to do it, he said. We sold them that sun room six years ago.

The couple on the couch sat still and continued to listen.

Six years old, but the sun room was in great shape. In that time, the house had aged a lot, and the best thing about the place was our sun room!

The woman on the couch fidgeted. She looked at her husband out of the corner of her eye. Her husband let go ofher hand and moved forward on the couch. He opened his mouth, but he did not speak.

He did not speak, but words came immediately to mind, and he had to hold them back. Dude. Turn around and look at that Onkyo receiver on the shelf. Look at those Advent speakers on the floor. They are twenty-six years old. I'm not impressed.

But he did not speak, and the three of them waited for the second set of figures in silence.

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