thependulumswings

By request from not one, but two readers, we share the previously published article again for your perusal.  It must be sales meeting time for some.  We hope you’ll enjoy it.

One of the many gifts that Boom Boom gave us was the torrent of quips about how one leads one’s life.   He could say so much by saying so little.   A statement at just the right moment resonated in my young, eager eardrums.  How I interpreted or applied it was up to me.  No more words were spoken because no more words were needed.

Boom Boom bought a new car when, and only when, the need arose.  He bought American.  And, he bought Oldsmobiles.  Mom would get the new car and hand Boom Boom the keys to the old one.   He included me in the conversations with the car salesmen and management from a very young age.

In the mid-sixties an on and off again negotiation with the local dealership involved us walking out twice and resuming the deal-making the next day and then the day after.  Finally, exhaustively, the terms were agreed to on a new Jetstar 88.  “We’ll clean it up for you and you can pick it up tomorrow Mr. Johnston,” said the exasperated car salesman.

After his work and our dinner the next evening we drove in the old trade-in Olds to pick up the new Olds.  After the final paperwork was signed we joyfully opened the doors to get into the new shiny ride.  One problem.  There were no floor mats.  “Where are the floor mats,” Boom Boom inquired.  “Mr. Johnston, there were none in the car as it was offered to you.  Floor mats will be an extra $36, said the soon-to-be more exasperated car salesman.”  “Keep the car,”  Boom Boom evenly retorted.   “Let’s go,” he said to mom and I.   Silence abounded.  And, off we drove in the old Jetstar 88 back home.  The silence was still plentiful well into the evening.

The next evening our phone rang.  Boom Boom answered.  Boom Boom listened.  Then, Boom Boom spoke.   We could only hear his side of the conversation.   “So, now you want to include the floor mats?”  Pause.  “Ok, well, tell your manager that I now need another $150 off of the car for my inconvenience in addition to the floor mats.”  Long pause.  “Tell him thank you.”

“Let’s get the car,” he said.  Mom decided to drop him and me off and head back home.  She may have had a wee bit of buyer’s fatigue.  As dad and I waited for them to bring the car around to the front he looked at me(all of six or seven years old) and said, “Never be afraid to walk away from a negotiation.  Never.”

The new car smell filled my nostrils on the ride home.  The lesson learned fills my mind to this day.