The luggage sales girl

My suitcase was nearly totally devastated, so I decided to purchase a new one. There are several suitcase shops in Sliema. One has a really good selection, but outrageous prices. The other one has cheap Chinese stuff. As I am a cheapskate I decided to go to the one with the Chinese stuff. It has the great sounding Franco-Italian name Jean Valise, Pelleteria, but really belongs to a Maltese woman called Jeannette, so was neither French nor Italian. The shop catered to tourists as it was open all day, really Maltese shops are closed between noon and 4 pm. I entered it and there was just a small sales girl there, maybe 1.55, a bit curvacious, but good looking, she even had an attractive face. So I was looking forward to a nice shopping experience.

I went to the back of the shop, where the suitcases were lined up. I needed a large light one with wheels. I tried to lift up several ones, but they were so cramped that it was difficult to get to them. The sales girl approached me: “Do you need help?” “ I am looking for a large light suitcase.” “This one is cheap”. She pointed to a suitcase. “How large is it?” “It is a large one.” “I mean, what are the measurements?” “We don't measure it, we just say large, medium or small.” As airlines have size restrictions on luggage, this obviously didn't hold water. So I responded: "If you can't measure it, I can't buy it.”, to which she replied, “OK, I will measure it” and came with a worn out meter. She measured it and said “78 cm”. The suit case did not look that large, so I took the meter and measured it myself. I came to 72 cm. “You must measure until the end of the wheel”, she told me. “Why? Can I put anything into the wheel?” “You are a bit rude to me!” she replied. This kind of response did not shake me at all. “It is you, who are rude to me” I replied. “I don't think so, why?”. “Because you tell me, how I 'must' measure it.” “I did not mean to be.” she retreated. “Do you have anything else in the EUR 50 price range?” “No”. The hoped for nice shopping experience did not seem to materialize.

She seemed to agree, as she went back to the desk with the tiller and left me alone. There was no larger light suitcase around. The problem was, this one was a bit overpriced, but after this encounter with her the salesgirl would certain not rebate it for me.

Fortunately, Jeannette was entering the store at this moment, unaware of the incident. Jeannette was in her end-forties, but still very attractive and must have been a beauty, when she was young. “Can I help you?”. I nodded: “What price can you make me on this one?” “It is 49.95, I can give it to you for 48.” I smiled: “That is a Chinese suitcase, it costs less than EUR 10.” “I am not the agent, I am paying much more, I have to eat, too. 47 is the best price.” “For women it is better not to eat too much”, I responded. She did not find that funny at all and looked at me, as if she would have loved to slap my head with the suitcase, maybe 47 times: “I can't give you EUR 5 off on this one. It is all new.” “ Do you want to keep it, until it becomes old? And I only need EUR 4.95 off ?” I have no idea why, but totally unexpectedly she accepted the logic. Maybe she just wanted me out of her shop desperately and not be reminded of me by the suitcase. I paid EUR 45 for a badly made Chinese suitcase and the hatred of two pretty women.

© GG 2012  

  

All content purely fictional, any similarities to real persons, places, firms, etc. are purely coincidental.