HOLD YOUR BREATH FOR THIS ONE!
From the title of this blog post, please be informed that you should not read this after eating a full meal. I somewhat wish I can transmit smells over the internet for this story. It's probably the worst I've ever had to deal with in a long time. I also hope that the customers that I dealt with don't have access to the internet. They don't seem like the tech type. In any case, here's the story.
The customer calls the dealership early in the morning. They explain to the sales manager that they are without a vehicle and they are really interested in buying two vehicles. So my sales manager sends a salesperson out to their residence to pick them up from their residence. The customers arrive to the dealership and the salesperson walks back to the sales desk with a big smirk. It's a husband a wife and their look like they are in the mid-forties. The wife was disabled and she walked with a cane. So they look like a normal couple ready to buy two cars. So the salesperson shows them two vehicles they were intersted in. The first car being a 1998 Saturn and the second vehicle being a 2002 Dodge Dakota Pickup. The salesperson demos the Saturn and comes back into the showroom informing the rest of the staff that the customers smell terrible. He mentioned that he had to open the window just to get fresh air. Imaging an offensive odor and being trapped in a small sedan! eekk! So the customers look at the truck and they agree on a price for both vehicles. Now the customers are sitting in the showroom. Keep in mind our showroom is rather large. Their smell was strong enough to fill the showroom with their odor.
To describle the odor, it was the smell of unwashed dogs coupled with poor hygene. Very offensive if you ask me. The salesperson is a better man than myself. I think it didn't bother him as much because he saw them as money in his pocket (a sale) as well as taking one for the team. It appears that the salesperson closed the deal and the customers are ready for me to sign them up and collect their money. While I was gathering the paperwork, the customers ask to get a test drive in the new 2006 Pontiac GTO. Again, the salesperson takes one for the team. He drives them around the block in the GTO, and get this.....he driving them around with the windows up the whole time. Today was a rather warm day! It's insane to be driving with the windows up. The salesperson tells me later that he had the windows up, but blasted the Air Conditioner vent right into his face.
So the time comes around and I have to "paper*" the customer up. (*Papering basically getting the customer to sign all the necessary documents for the sale). They are buying two cars, so I have to sign them up twice! I was a bit aprehensive because I know I have to deal with along with have a weak stomach. With the smell lingering in the showroom, I had to get myself prepared for what I have ahead.
So before the customer enter my small 12' x 12' square office with just a door, I spray tons of disinfectant spray to neutralize the air a bit. It smelled nice a fresh in my office! The customers enter and I can smell them over the spray just before they enter my office. I'm getting worried and trying hard to not make any facial expressions. I hold my breath and smile. They finally enter and sit down at my desk. At this point I'm very close to them. Again, I'm trying to sustain a straight face. I'm thinking of nice smells to overcome their pungent odor. I wanted to get this done and over with as soon as possible. Just my luck the gentleman was a talker. He wanted to talk about God, his past personal life, his job as a nurse, stories of his ex-wife, etc. Then as he's talking, his wife wants to read each document with a fine tooth comb, and consults her husband for approval while he's yapping off about life. This was torture and I was getting impatient quickly. So the best solution I could do to speed things up was to basically get pushy with them to sign. They end up signing the paperwork for the first vehicle and I had to rush them quickly on the second contract signing. After 30 minutes of pain and suffering; they finally leave my office. I can finally breathe! They go outside with the salesperson so he can suffer a bit. While they are outside, I'm trying to get clean air on the opposite side of the building. As I re-enter my office, the smell is still there and I gag in disgust. I spray disinfectant all over the place and remove the chair they were sitting in. The chairs are sitting outside to air out. I wipe my desktop off, and purell my hands.
It turns out they paid cash for both cars. Despite their awful odor, we sold them a car. It wasn't as bad as I expected, but it was the worst smell I had to deal with for 30 minutes. I feel like sending the customers a gift of soap and perfume. That's so mean. Overall, you have to deal with all people and treat them with equal amounts of respect without offending them.
The customer calls the dealership early in the morning. They explain to the sales manager that they are without a vehicle and they are really interested in buying two vehicles. So my sales manager sends a salesperson out to their residence to pick them up from their residence. The customers arrive to the dealership and the salesperson walks back to the sales desk with a big smirk. It's a husband a wife and their look like they are in the mid-forties. The wife was disabled and she walked with a cane. So they look like a normal couple ready to buy two cars. So the salesperson shows them two vehicles they were intersted in. The first car being a 1998 Saturn and the second vehicle being a 2002 Dodge Dakota Pickup. The salesperson demos the Saturn and comes back into the showroom informing the rest of the staff that the customers smell terrible. He mentioned that he had to open the window just to get fresh air. Imaging an offensive odor and being trapped in a small sedan! eekk! So the customers look at the truck and they agree on a price for both vehicles. Now the customers are sitting in the showroom. Keep in mind our showroom is rather large. Their smell was strong enough to fill the showroom with their odor.
To describle the odor, it was the smell of unwashed dogs coupled with poor hygene. Very offensive if you ask me. The salesperson is a better man than myself. I think it didn't bother him as much because he saw them as money in his pocket (a sale) as well as taking one for the team. It appears that the salesperson closed the deal and the customers are ready for me to sign them up and collect their money. While I was gathering the paperwork, the customers ask to get a test drive in the new 2006 Pontiac GTO. Again, the salesperson takes one for the team. He drives them around the block in the GTO, and get this.....he driving them around with the windows up the whole time. Today was a rather warm day! It's insane to be driving with the windows up. The salesperson tells me later that he had the windows up, but blasted the Air Conditioner vent right into his face.
So the time comes around and I have to "paper*" the customer up. (*Papering basically getting the customer to sign all the necessary documents for the sale). They are buying two cars, so I have to sign them up twice! I was a bit aprehensive because I know I have to deal with along with have a weak stomach. With the smell lingering in the showroom, I had to get myself prepared for what I have ahead.
So before the customer enter my small 12' x 12' square office with just a door, I spray tons of disinfectant spray to neutralize the air a bit. It smelled nice a fresh in my office! The customers enter and I can smell them over the spray just before they enter my office. I'm getting worried and trying hard to not make any facial expressions. I hold my breath and smile. They finally enter and sit down at my desk. At this point I'm very close to them. Again, I'm trying to sustain a straight face. I'm thinking of nice smells to overcome their pungent odor. I wanted to get this done and over with as soon as possible. Just my luck the gentleman was a talker. He wanted to talk about God, his past personal life, his job as a nurse, stories of his ex-wife, etc. Then as he's talking, his wife wants to read each document with a fine tooth comb, and consults her husband for approval while he's yapping off about life. This was torture and I was getting impatient quickly. So the best solution I could do to speed things up was to basically get pushy with them to sign. They end up signing the paperwork for the first vehicle and I had to rush them quickly on the second contract signing. After 30 minutes of pain and suffering; they finally leave my office. I can finally breathe! They go outside with the salesperson so he can suffer a bit. While they are outside, I'm trying to get clean air on the opposite side of the building. As I re-enter my office, the smell is still there and I gag in disgust. I spray disinfectant all over the place and remove the chair they were sitting in. The chairs are sitting outside to air out. I wipe my desktop off, and purell my hands.
It turns out they paid cash for both cars. Despite their awful odor, we sold them a car. It wasn't as bad as I expected, but it was the worst smell I had to deal with for 30 minutes. I feel like sending the customers a gift of soap and perfume. That's so mean. Overall, you have to deal with all people and treat them with equal amounts of respect without offending them.
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