How to talk yourself out of buying "the best deal"...

A while ago I was at the store and an announcement came over the speaker that I could get a free pairing knife just by going to a certain area of the store. Since I was pretty much in that area and only had to walk 10 feet, I figured I'd get a free knife... Of course you are all smarter than me and know that it wasn't going to be that easy! First we had to listen to a sales pitch on why we should buy this whole boxed knife set. 

The salesperson starts discussing the knife that everybody has which is incredibly dull and won't slice bread without mashing it. Um. Yeah. I didn't agree with that and actually had to stop myself from giving tips on how to correctly slice bread so it doesn't get smooshed. I could do a whole tutorial on how to slice bread... but I'm sure the salesman wouldn't have appreciated me doing that there.

A little later the salesperson was explaining how their fillet knife was so great and showed he could cut the skin off the tomato. At which point in my head I was like, "Man you have impressive knifing skills, how much did you practice to get that good?" I almost said that as well. I actually had to bite my lip to not say that out loud. I'm sure that is not what was going through the head of the guy next to me who was asked if he liked fish... he was probably thinking, "I want a knife that could skin a fish that well." Now I'm not saying that a fillet knife won't make it easier to skin a fish, but it does take practice to use it as well as that salesperson!

I am probably the only person who was in that group that walked away with a free knife and did not buy the whole set. Honestly I don't believe the knives were anything special but that salesman was really good!

So lesson I learned that day - if you know your stuff you aren't as likely to buy an impulse purchase in the moment. Plus bonus lesson - it's only free if you don't make a purchase!