My last business trip in 2014 is to Connecticut and New York offices. Holiday parties and other year-end stuff.
I wander into Macy's in Stamford one evening. Looking for a briefcase to replace my current one. I find a choice in the luggage section. Seriously? A lady's bag is not luggage and a man's is?
I am poking around in the collection and a salesman with a foreign accent asks if I need help. Yes, I can't find a price on these, I say. He shows me how and I continue my poking. I narrow my choice to two, and know which one of these I want - but I don't buy it straightaway because I need re-affirmation. So I ask Mr. Foreign Accent for permission, take pictures and email them to Smita. About an hour later she confirms my choice, and I go back to the shop.
A different salesman is there. In a Connecticut accent, he tells me he is the only one there and is overworked. He makes an effort to find a boxed copy of the briefcase and fails. I leave. But I am persistent and back the next evening.
Again, there is only one salesman present but its Mr. F. A. and he acknowledges me with eye contact while serving another customer. I wait patiently (living in Switzerland teaches you that). A lady comes with some shopping and flops on a display bed saying "I know I should not do this." FA does not care. I smile.
She wants a lot, but finally the customer in front of me is done.
"Did you decide?" he asks.
I decided yesterday already, but when I came back you were not there and your colleague was not very helpful.
"I could have helped you while I was there"
I know, but I needed my wife's advice.
"What does she know about briefcases?"
She knows about fashion.
At this stage, Ms. Lady-flopped-on-bed joins in and chirps "all my husband wants is a tie. He does not want to win, just a tie would make him happy". We all chuckle. FA brings a box to the cash register.
"You have a Macy's card?"
No.
"You want a Macy's card?"
No.
"You get 15% discount, and I will give you an extra 10%"
No. By the way, may I ask if you are originally from Turkey?
"Why, you don't like Turkish people?"
Smart guy.
I love Turkish people. I was in Istanbul two weeks ago. I have a lot of Turkish friends.
"What's the most famous monument to love in the world?"
Ahem, the Taj Mahal?
"Who was it built for?"
Mumtaz?
"Who built it?"
Shahjahan?
"Who was the architect?"
Err ..
"It was Mir something from Persia"
Ah, you are from Iran? You also have a famous bridge of love in Esfahan.
"You have been to Iran?"
Many times. Tehran, Qom, Esfahan, Bandar Imam, Assaluyeh.
"Ah, a world traveler!"
That's why I want a briefcase!
(P.S. I notice when I pay that I got the 15% Macy's discount anyway.
P.P.S. Wikipedia says that the architect was Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. He was a Persian (Tajik) from Badakhshan in modern-day Afghanistan)
