MetaChat - I don't get this.

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25 April 2007

I don't get this. I went to a store to price a built-in desk installation for my home office. The sales coordinator lady acted strangely.→[More:]

She wouldn't tell me any prices, saying I have to have an in-home consultation with one of their designers/salespeople. Fine. I'm sure it's a sales tactic, but I have high resistance to sales tactics, so bring them on.

The coordinator lady went over to the scheduling board and looked over the list of names she could schedule. She started motioning silently at one name and nodding vigorously. Her manager was standing nearby so she was apparently trying to tell me silently I should schedule with one specific designer, but she was doing it with very strange motions, pointing up in the air. Finally she whispered to me "Kris's numbers are way up there. She can sell anything!"

Umm, ok. Was that supposed to make me want to schedule with Kris? Apparently she's the best at high-pressure sales tactics and upselling unsuspecting customers. Why would this coordinator woman go to great lengths to secretly communicate this to me?

post by: agropyron at: 11:21 | 12 comments

That is bizarre. Is that the only custom desk place or can you go somewhere else? If it were me I wouldn't be inclined to go back there.

posted by LunaticFringe 25 April | 11:31

Maybe she somehow got the notion that you really wanted the desk, but you needed help convincing your partner to get it? Or something.

posted by danostuporstar 25 April | 11:54

"Anything" could mean that Kris can offer more than just what the store sells, meaning that you could choose from a wider range of options than just what the store offers. Perhaps she got the impression that what they normally offered was not exactly what you wanted (for whatever reasons).

posted by mischief 25 April | 12:18

If you print "Kris's numbers are way up there. She can sell anything!" in crayon and then heat the paper with an iron and then scrape off the excess wax and then cut the paper into a snowflake shape and then expose it to ultraviolet light and then sprinkle it with fairy dust and then hold it up and read it backwards in the mirror while listening to I Am The Walrus, it says "Drink More Ovaltine".

posted by iconomy 25 April | 12:30

Aren't there 3 or 4 organizer stores in Bellevue? Go to a different one.

posted by matildaben 25 April | 12:38

it says "Drink More Ovaltine".

A crummy commercial? Oh, fudge.

posted by Elsa 25 April | 12:42

Hire a carpenter to do the same job. You'll have to have a better idea of what you want, but you'll probably get something much better. I found a good finish carpenter by asking at a mill that makes moldings.

posted by plinth 25 April | 14:18

mischief... that almost makes sense!

plinth: (weak eponysteria?) I was thinking of trying to find a place to buy some desktops and have a carpenter install them for me. I have no idea where to look. Did your carpenter just start with some lumber and go from there?

posted by agropyron 25 April | 14:55

I had a carpenter build a fireplace mantle. We discussed design he disappeared with some money down and came back with a mantle.

Similarly, I contracted a woodworker friend who had some time in his schedule to build a cabinet and counter. I specified the wood that I wanted, he took measurements and he disappeared and came back with a cabinet.

I don't know specifically what you're trying to do, but it could very well start with "a sheet or two of maple/cherry/oak/walnut plywood" and go from there.

posted by plinth 25 April | 15:24

@ag: How much desk do you want? Just a platform with a sliding keyboard shelf, or the full blown file/utility/middle/personal drawers combo with an angled return, multiple monitor risers and a Wooton style pigeonhole cabinet?

posted by mischief 25 April | 17:20

I just want a desktop that stretches around one end of my office. Probably about 15' or 20' of desktop all told. I'd like to be able to put computers, printers, filing cabinets, and whatever I want underneath it. Just like this but longer and without all the shelves and drawers.

I was thinking of buying a bunch of desktop, uh, stuff and having a carpenter install it, but I don't know where to start with that. Any ideas?

posted by agropyron 25 April | 19:25

If you just want a surface and you use a corner of the room, 1" x 2" strips can be screwed into the studs and the desktop screwed into the strips. The weak point of that is the hanging corner of the desktop, and that can be supported with a brace angled to where the floor meets the wall.

posted by mischief 25 April | 20:37

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