It promises to be bigger, bolder and better. It is what every geek had been waiting for, teetering on their seats for the past 3 months and biting their fingernails in anticipation for this show. No donut queue can ever come close to compare with how much crowd this show brings. It is the COMEX 2007! And with my purse damningly empty, I had no choice but to work in this comex.
Attached to P.A. Mart, I was assigned with the daunting task of selling Toshiba laptops. Prior market survey done on a few friends foretold a bleak 4 days for me - that they rather buy other brands like fu***** or Le**** or even D***. Furthermore, I don't consider myself having attributes that make a good salesman.
The first 2 days were designed as a warm-up for me and the kids (I was the 2nd oldest part timer there with the other 13 being 22 years and younger! But they couldn't tell haha dunno if its a bad thing or not). Sales were admittedly not as good as I had expected, with all the greedy mercenary people squinting their eyes hard at the prices and scoffing at their dastardly high prices the next moment. Crowds came and went, and only a handful actually bought something. At the end of the 2 days, however, we were told we had the highest sales among the other toshiba vendors. That was a major morale boost. HA! Fight with us? Tang kuku!
The weekend was the worst. Crowds started jamming the walkway, the display booths had no elbow space, and we didn't had time to properly eat. Our already overworked throats had to work overtime, rolling out the specs of every machine from our lips like spreading the gospel, hoping to change their faith on whatever they had previously decided on. As one of my boss, Anthony, aptly put, "We are honest merchants, and at the same time professional conmen." It was our duties to provide the best deal for the customers, and also think on our feet if a customer countered us with another brand providing a better deal than us. For example, a customer would say that Fu***** is made in Japan, and Toshiba is made in China. We would tell them "Balls to Fu*****. Their processor is Intel which is made in China, their parts are made in China, and the only difference is that they ship all these parts to Japan. Then they would assemble their machines using Japanese-made screws and japanese automation. The cheek of them to proudly state that their machines are made in Japan where in fact its all produced in China! Shame on them!" Or something along the line.
Our tasks were not made any easier that every person who went to comex wanted to squeeze every single drop out of the shops there. The price had already been lowered, freebies were already given at a premium, and yet they want more of this, less of that, with exorbitant demands made. Nothing to their expectation, they threaten to walk away and look at other brands. Especially indians (no offence but it's true, speaking from experience). They would come up with the most original excuses, like wanting to build a special relationship with us, giving us name cards, promising to buy 3 or 4 sets, but only if they give all the freebies and at a lower price too, and sensing that they would lose the battle, eventually back out subtly and only end up buying 1 set, after wasting 1 hour of my time and energy. Human nature has never looked so dark to me.
Thankfully the colleagues were fantastic people. Time was made easier to pass with the stupid jokes made and the talk-cock sessions whenever we were sick of approaching people. Not to mention my outstanding bosses, Anthony, Keltner and Benny, who supported us patiently whenever we had questions to be answered. I dare say I made a few friends there during the short 4 days. Just a pity I didn't get their contacts.
Now all that's left is the paycheck, which is worryingly due only in 2 to 3 weeks. P.A. Mart, I will definitely support you if I have any laptops to buy in the future.
Back to my zho boh lan days.
