V'
Page 12 1 HE BATT ALION
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 1981
RELAX!
at
Features
TJ's Happy Hour
V2 Price Drinks 4-7 p.m.
(Mon.-Fri.)
High-pressure selling is door-to-door staple
Buyers lose patience or money
£j RESTAURANT
^ AND
^ CLUB
696-0388
707 Complex on Texas Ave.
To: ACCOUNTING MAJORS
From: ACCOUNTING SOCIETY and
BETA ALPHA PSI
Subject:
GAAP IS HERE!
Greater Annual Accountant’s Playday ~
(and banquet)
Thursday April 16, 1981
Events awards
5-K RUN banquet*
TENNIS following
GOLF
Students, compete with professors and professionals!
"More Information available at the ticket sales booth In front of
the old Hospital Building. Tickets for the banquet are on sale
now!
By CAROLYN TILLER
Battalion Reporter
A college student buys an 18-
piece set of cookware for $500;
that is nine pans, five lids and four
accessory items such as a food
masher.
A housewife buys a “revolu
tionary” new vacuum cleaner for
only $5 a week; at 108 weeks, the
total is $540.
A man goes to a dance studio for
a free lesson and dances away with
$6,250 worth to pay for.
What do all these people have
in common? They’ve been taken
by a fast-talking salesman.
People buy things at extreme
prices or of bad quality that they
don’t need or can’t afford because
of poorly placed trust in a strange
salesman. The salesman, like a
snake with hypnotic power, con-
People buy things at ex
treme prices or of bad
quality that they don’t
need or can’t afford be
cause of poorly placed
trust in a strange
salesman.
vinces people to sign outrageous
contracts.
But the people falling under his
trance aren’t stupid; rather they
are naive and unprepared.
“People are gullible and they
think they’re going to get some
thing for nothing,” said LeRoy
Balmain, executive director for
the Better Business Bureau of
Brazos Valley. “They usually get
burned.”
It’s easier to trust a reassuring,
smiling, neatly-dressed, com
plimentary and intelligent person
and the salesman knows it. He’s
not stupid either; he’s done his
homework and planned every
thing for his favor.
“The presentation is meticu
lously planned, right down to the
salesperson’s appearance, ges
tures, and even jokes,” said
Stephen A. Newman and Nancy
Ken’s Automotive
421 S. Main — Bryan
822-2823
"A Complete Automotive
Service Center"
Tune-Ups • Brakes
Clutches • McPherson Struts
Front End Parts Replacement
Standard Transmission
Repairs
All American Cars
YW-Datsun-Honda
Toyota
Lawn Mower Repairs &
Snapper Mower Sales
(Master Card & VISA Accepted)
ART AWARENESS DAY
WED., MARCH 25th 1981
10am to 4-PM
MSC
FEATURING:
3 CARICATURE
ARTISTS
— in msc gallery
2 BANDS
— msc main lounge
AND MUCH
MORE!
PRESENTED BY
MSC ARTS COMMITTEE
Tnursday-Sundoy
March 26-29,1981
Guest of Honor
JOE HALDEMAN
DEALERS’ ROOM, ART EXHIBITS, WRITERS’ WORKSHOP
AUTOGRAPH PARTY, SPEECHES, PANELS, MASQUERADE,
DAYTIME FILM PROGRAM, BANQUET, AND MORE!
Thie year is 2024.
a future you’ll probably live to see.
® ®|jD(^] Odd©
THURSDAY
Barbarellcr7:30p.m.,
A Boy and His Dog*
9:20p.m.
FRIDAY: ANIMATION NIGHT
Watership Down*7p.m., Wizards*8:50p.m.,
Allegro Non Troppo*10:40p.m., Fantastic Planet*12:30a.m.
SATURDAY
Close Encounters*7p.m., 2001*9:20p.m., Sleeper*! 1:45p.m.,
The Day the Earth Stood Still*l:30a.m.
TICKETS NOW ON SALE AT THE M.S.C. BOX OFFICE
ONt DAY FULL CON
A&M Students $2.50 $4.50
Non-students $3.75 $7.50
Sponsored by MSC Cepheid Variable
ATTN: Chemists
and Physicists
Students and faculty members are invited to a
demonstration of our equipment for solar simu
lation, high intensity illumination, and mono
chromatic light handling.
Date: Wednesday, March 25
Time: 9:30 A.M. to Noon
Place: Old State Chemists Building
Schoeffel
Instruments
Kramer, authors of Getting What
You Deserve, A Handbook for the
Assertive Consumer.
They said one sales manual
even told the seller how far he
should stand from the door after
ringing the doorbell.
“It explains that when a woman
opens the door and sees someone
that far back, she will instinctively
open the door wider,” they said.
The salesman is polished and
the consumer is at a disadvantage.
It is impossible to prepare and
know about every product sold
door-to-door. But it is possible to
know what to be suspicious of— to
know a deceptive salesman’s
moves.
The deceiving salesman begins
with door-openers — ways to get
his foot in the door.
Two common ones are misrep
resenting the presentation length
and making a free offer. Another is
•' < - , ■
“People are gullible and
they think they’re going
to get something for no
thing. ”
Ed Kv
e
.\N e
Another one
of the
professionals
found at
JTHEAR CILAjfjf
209 E. University
846-4771
to pretend to conduct a survey or
test.
A U.S. Department of Justice
bulletin said.
The consumer may also be told
that he has been “specially
selected.”
A BBB consumer pamphlet
said salesmen using this line are
usually “buttering-you-up” for
what they will sell to anyone who
will buy.
Once inside, some salesmen
make it a rule to stay until a con
tract is signed or he is thrown out,
whichever comes first. People will
buy something just to get the
salesman to leave — that’s his
idea.
“Whether out of timidity, or a
sense of politeness and hospital
ity, few people threaten to have
him physically removed,” New
man and Kramer said.
Balmain said it i
to hurt these kind of sales |
feelings. “It’s beensaidtoj
before so many times, d
med in their faces, thatiti) |
hurt their feelings,” hej
“They forget about you!(|
they get to the next house,'
But while he’s stijfatthtj I
house, the salesman is liliej
family friend, a psychiatreti
mother-figure rolled into of
Salesmen usually trytij
contract signed inimei |
They may offer a one-t
day-only deal.
“If they say now or never.] |
main said, “you better
Friend, it will be never.”
The DepartmentofJustB
let in said, "Neverallowasals
son to pressure or rush y#j
signing a contract thinir |
take it home and reread?
“It is always better tod
least one day.”
Newman and Kramer;
“Fast-talking door-to-doori
don’t give their victims fey
reflect. Their carefully i
chatter is designed to prodi|
ill-considered, immediate j
emotional response.”
The salesman is not
up — if he did, the perse:
find time to think.
The salesman’s nextstep|||
rush to get the contract signes v i
add the “only pennies a dav . ?
These breakdowns in costi-Ep
leading. “Pennies a day”cal '
up to a bundle and pay s
stretch for longer time peril
The best rule is to neve!
anything without knowinga!
out the product.
People usually don’t pays
tion to or are not concerned
deceptive salesmen unti
been had by one.
Hindsight is a lot bettaj
foresight,” Belmain said
heard them tell me manyt Fisheri
‘They aren’t going to get» ified fo
more. First time shame onS this sen
Second time shame on me ifving t
the IOC
cord
MSC VIDEO
Presents
The Making of STftRUJAftS
Billy Crystal
Life Goes to the Movies: Post LUor Era
Son of Football Follies
Meotloof & Journey Concert
Second City TV #2
1
1
■1
1
1
m
E9
<s>
o
5 <
Z N
OH
a a
at full s
lunch:
speciaiIt.
►
See schedule posted by TV Monitor in MSC Lounge, Serpentine Lounge
or Health Center.
1st ANNUAL CHARITY CHILI COOK-OFF
sponsored by
TEXAS A&M KRUEGER DORM —
Behind TEXAS HALL OF FAME grounds
to benefit
BRAZOS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY
Attention all gourmets and Chili lovers! Krueger Dorm is
sponsoring a CHARITY CHILI COOK-OFF on Sunday,
April 5 for 8-5! Proceeds benefit the Brazos County
Humane society to build an animal shelter. HOW TO
ENTER: All entry forms may be picked up at the follow
ing locations:
Court’s Western Wear Locations
Commons Front Desk
Hail of Fame
Student Programs Office — 2nd floor MSC
Entry fees are $10.00. Rules will be supplied with entry forms. All
entries must be mailed to the following address, postmarked no later
than March 26.
Charity Chill Cook-off
Krueger Dorm #6
College Station, Texas
77840
Come on out and join the fun!
Tickets are 1.00 in advance,
$1.50 at the gate.
We’ll have entertainment and other excit
ing activities for you to enjoy!!!
Featuring the Skiiiet Lickers of Dun
COORS BEER
Roy Jean of KORA