Hey guys,
I just had a really nice and unusual experience shopping for fragrances and I wanted to share it with you.
Today I woke up bored and decided I was going to go snag a bottle of Creed Original Santal I tried last week at a discount shop at the Mall. I've been to this discount shop a few times and have bought some stuff from them (Creed MI, Joop Rococo, Eau de Cartier, and Antaeus).
The shop is run by two guys who told me they were from Pakistan and with every visit to the store they have become nicer and nicer to me-- we always talk about fragrances and I love their store(s)--actually they have two stores at the mall and they stock a lot of hard to find and discontinued stuff.
So today, I walked in the store while these two guys were sitting in the back eating their lunch. They saw me come in and got up to help me. I told them they could continue to eat, as I was just going to take a few minutes to look at the selection.
Then I couldn't believe it... they offered me lunch! They were eating some spicy Indian dish that one of them had made, and they insisted that I come back behind the counter and eat with them. It took me by surprise, but I was kind of hungry and I do like spicy food. So I came back and they made me a plate. There were only two chairs and one of the guys insisted on giving me his chair.
So I sat and ate. It was really good and super spicy. Then the guy told me I was eating goat meat (Not something I'd eat normally, but I didn't want to be rude, so I ate it-- besides, it wasn't bad). And since the food was so spicy, the other guy went to a soda machine and bought a bottle of water for me! My mouth is still burning, but man it was tasty food.
Then they told me I was welcome to come behind the counter and take as much time as I needed and sample whatever I wanted. Sadly, they had sold the Original Santal already, but they had tons of stuff I wanted.
I saw a bottle of Helmut Lang EDC and they gave me a good price on it. I also had to jump on a bottle of the discontinued Versace Versus Uomo. And I got a good deal on a bottle of John Varvatos (some guy came into my bar wearing it the other night and it smelled great on him, so I had to get some for myself. Plus lately I've been trying to work on creating leathers, and it's a good example of a sweeter leather as opposed to a mossy leather.) These guys gave me a special price on all this stuff, and I really appreciated it.
So we talked a while and I hung out and observed people coming into the store. I got out a few samples of my own fragrances and let them all try them and I got good reactions (I try to examine a person's non-verbal expressions rather than what they tell me).
One of the guys at the store asked me where I worked and if I would consider coming to work at the stores as extra help during the busy Christmas season. I was really flattered and amazed at the hospitality they showered upon me. I do pretty well at my regular job, but still, if I worked at their store for a few weeks I could bone up on my knowledge of women's perfumes and maybe make samples of them all for reference. Plus, maybe they could just pay me in colognes. I'd go for it.
Also, I was walking out of the mall and I saw Jose Valentin, the NY Mets second baseman, shopping with his kids (damn Mets, they beat my Cardinals yesterday on our opening day!)
Well, anyway I've had some good experiences with SA's when shopping for fragrances but I think this was tops! It left me with a nice warm feeling all over--though maybe that warmth was from the spicy food!
Later,
Ted
I just had a really nice and unusual experience shopping for fragrances and I wanted to share it with you.
Today I woke up bored and decided I was going to go snag a bottle of Creed Original Santal I tried last week at a discount shop at the Mall. I've been to this discount shop a few times and have bought some stuff from them (Creed MI, Joop Rococo, Eau de Cartier, and Antaeus).
The shop is run by two guys who told me they were from Pakistan and with every visit to the store they have become nicer and nicer to me-- we always talk about fragrances and I love their store(s)--actually they have two stores at the mall and they stock a lot of hard to find and discontinued stuff.
So today, I walked in the store while these two guys were sitting in the back eating their lunch. They saw me come in and got up to help me. I told them they could continue to eat, as I was just going to take a few minutes to look at the selection.
Then I couldn't believe it... they offered me lunch! They were eating some spicy Indian dish that one of them had made, and they insisted that I come back behind the counter and eat with them. It took me by surprise, but I was kind of hungry and I do like spicy food. So I came back and they made me a plate. There were only two chairs and one of the guys insisted on giving me his chair.
So I sat and ate. It was really good and super spicy. Then the guy told me I was eating goat meat (Not something I'd eat normally, but I didn't want to be rude, so I ate it-- besides, it wasn't bad). And since the food was so spicy, the other guy went to a soda machine and bought a bottle of water for me! My mouth is still burning, but man it was tasty food.
Then they told me I was welcome to come behind the counter and take as much time as I needed and sample whatever I wanted. Sadly, they had sold the Original Santal already, but they had tons of stuff I wanted.
I saw a bottle of Helmut Lang EDC and they gave me a good price on it. I also had to jump on a bottle of the discontinued Versace Versus Uomo. And I got a good deal on a bottle of John Varvatos (some guy came into my bar wearing it the other night and it smelled great on him, so I had to get some for myself. Plus lately I've been trying to work on creating leathers, and it's a good example of a sweeter leather as opposed to a mossy leather.) These guys gave me a special price on all this stuff, and I really appreciated it.
So we talked a while and I hung out and observed people coming into the store. I got out a few samples of my own fragrances and let them all try them and I got good reactions (I try to examine a person's non-verbal expressions rather than what they tell me).
One of the guys at the store asked me where I worked and if I would consider coming to work at the stores as extra help during the busy Christmas season. I was really flattered and amazed at the hospitality they showered upon me. I do pretty well at my regular job, but still, if I worked at their store for a few weeks I could bone up on my knowledge of women's perfumes and maybe make samples of them all for reference. Plus, maybe they could just pay me in colognes. I'd go for it.
Also, I was walking out of the mall and I saw Jose Valentin, the NY Mets second baseman, shopping with his kids (damn Mets, they beat my Cardinals yesterday on our opening day!)
Well, anyway I've had some good experiences with SA's when shopping for fragrances but I think this was tops! It left me with a nice warm feeling all over--though maybe that warmth was from the spicy food!
Later,
Ted
.
