Sunday, October 14, 2007

We love free shit!

I worked at the Vancouver Home show this weekend. The Vancouver 'home and garden' show I should say. It happens every year, may even be twice a year I think. Moms come from far and wide with strollers and carseats, in-laws and husbands dragged along.
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I used to be one of those women, but not this year. This year, I was one of the exhibitors. My company is one of western canada's distributor for hardwood flooring, so we had a booth there. ("booth' is a bit of an understatemtent. It was a $20,000 - 500sqft advertisement)
I couldn't believe the company paid as much for this as I did for my car!
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Anyway, once I was there, I had a chance to observe the kind of people who go to these things. They all look normal at first, but I think one gets dumber by the minute while inside a home show exhibition....
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Otherwise smart men and women seemed to gather around like caddle around the 'chef' who was chopping all the onions and green peppers. "Ooohs" and "Ahhhs" all around as the amazing chopper cut your chopping time in half. They were practically throwing money at this guy to get their hands on the new 'best kept secret' in the kitchen.
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Then there was the gal who demonstrates the swiffer mop. Oh, how glad everyone was to see her! Oodles of old ladies gasped as the mop cleans even residue that has been stuck on since the last time she cleaned....which incidentally was just a few minutes ago, with a different crowd.
The mop was $19.99 but WAIT, you get a second one FREE!! I'm telling you they were buying those stupid yellow mops like they were going out of style.
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There was another booth there with a guy demonstrating how he was loosing weight by having this big black belt strapped on to him. It was emitting heat apparantly and he would be sweating off the pounds without lifting a finger. He recommended wearing this gadget everywhere, to work, shopping, on dates. The fact that he's plugged into a machine, while he was belted in, apparantly is no cause for alarm. Just adds to the charm I guess.
I've come to two conclusions: First that these homeshows seem to be nothing more than an expensive over-hyped infomercial. Second, that I really appreciate NOT being in the retail industry after this weekend. (Our company does not sell directly to Joe and Jane Homeowner, we're a distributor, meaning we sell to floor stores only, they then turn around and sell to the public)
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But it wasn't all bad. I did walk around after my shift and get a few free samples. I came home with 2 rolls of the new ROYALE 3 ply toilet paper and more free razors (the kind with the shaving cream build inside them already) to last a small european country for a year.
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Oh yeah, my weekend was THAT good!
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21 comments:

Eileen said...

OOHHHH, gotta love the free toilet paper.
I used to work trade shows when I worked in home health care. I loved it. There were tons of free stuff. Mind you, the majority of shows I worked were 'closed', meaning for people who were in the industry. Didn't get a lot of the 'stupid public' there (just stupid trade people).
All in all, I know what you're saying about people at shows. It never fails, something that is totally lame people freak over because it seems to be new. Sometimes it is good fun to just watch how some people react.

Dave said...

Now wait a minute!

The only non-carpet I have is in the utility room, kitchen and bathroom.

Swiffer is a revolution in my cleaning regime!!!! I've never ever typed four exclamation points in my life, until then, and now, again!!!!

I am a genetic slob; but, that little thing cleans good (Southern for performs household cleaning quickly, efficiently and without muss or fuss).

I want it's equivalent for the rest of the surfaces in the kitchen and the bathroom.

Sorry to part with you here. Try it you'll like it.

That girl said...

Eileen - never knew you worked in home health care?

Dave - Heheh...you totally cracked me up! Apparantly I judged the swiffer too hastily ;-)

When I get hardwood flooring in my house (which has been an on-going debate in our house, especially since I can get it at cost) I will try your yellow swiffer mop. I'll let you know how I feel about it then.

Crazy Working Mom said...

Heh heh heh...glad you got some free "shit" out of the deal at least. :)

tweetey30 said...

Sounds like loads of fun.I have been to one of those in my short life and hope to never go again. Boring is what they call that. LOL... Even with the free samples.

AshleyHami said...

TAG!

Another Wedding Blog ;)

Ryan said...

Mermaid...

Thank you for inviting me to your private blog.

You should get rid of your ex's and stop this running around. Either that, or send them one of those black belts after I've 'retrofitted' with some extra parts... They would probably end up losing a little more than just a little weight.

Just a thought.

Thank you for not giving up!

That girl said...

Crazy mom - you can never have enough toilet paper :-)

Tweets - it wasn't exactly boring, but it was an eyeopener for sure. I'm glad I saw it from a different point of view, I used to wait in line and spend money to buy tickets for the home show in the past. Dumb me.

HamiHari - Tag? I wasn't aware we wre playing tag? Lol..

Ryan - 2 belts coming up. I hate this running too, but I hate this type of passive agressive game playing. I don't mind confrontation - when it's direct I can handle it and hold my own. But them starting to make friends with all my cyber friends and then finding stuff out about me that way is just to creepy to handle. (it just happened again tonight with 2 of my readers) She sends LOOOONG emails about what a horrible person I am to anyone who bothers to reply (by accident, cause they don't know who she is) to her comment. UGH.

Wow - I should moderate my own comment...that was too long.

Heather in Beautiful BC said...

WHAAAAAAT???? They make razors with shaving cream built in? I didn't know that. I know about the toothbrushes... but now razors too... Ha, I learn something new every day!

Michelle, I absolutely love your new blog layout and photos. Thanks for inviting me - but I almost didn't accept because I didn't know it was you - curiosity got the better of me :)

I will add your new top secret name in code form to all 3 of mine (here they are since I don't seem to be on your sidebar yet):

http://beautifulbritishcolumbia.blogspot.com
http://hugosays.blogspot.com
http://boatinginbeautifulbritishcolumbia.com

By the way, I bought one of those mops and gave the second away as a gift... oh, no maybe it was the window squeegee thingy... or the cheese grater... whatever... I like all those cool gadgets.

notfearingchange said...

Nice...i personally like the wine and food show myself...

That girl said...

Heather - They have toothbrushes with toothpastes in them?! I didn't know that!!

I'm glad you accepted the invite, now it makes me wonder how many others got perplexed by the new name and just declined.

NFC - Yup, wine and food shows are nice. Next time we host one in Vancouver, you can crash at my place ;-)

Laura said...

HamiHarri's tag was for a meme! visit her blog to see. She tagged me too :)

Jazz said...

Got to you. Finally! I've never been to a home show, there seems to be extensive blogging material there. I'll have to try it the next time there's one in Montreal.

JR said...

Free crap always takes the edge off a bad day. ;-)

That girl said...

Laura - Not another meme! Say it isn't so! (Collapses on the floor)
Just kidding, i'll check it out, but I'm out of meme's these days, we'll see...

Jazz - you really should. Had no idea you're from Montreal. You guys have a 10 day homeshow!! Insane! Absolutely crazy.

Vancouver Voyeur - Guess that's why after all the drilling and poking a dentist will always offer a lollipop at the end. Here, suck on this. It's free ;-)

tweetey30 said...

I have to say that your source of harrassment. I havent heard from her in ages since I told her off and I see that as a blessed area. I mean she comments on a few other blogs I do but I dont talk to her personally.

tweetey30 said...

I have to say that your source of harrassment. I havent heard from her in ages since I told her off and I see that as a blessed area. I mean she comments on a few other blogs I do but I dont talk to her personally.

Eileen said...

Good to see a lot of your followers have followed you.

That girl said...

Tweets and Eileen - Thanks to both of you for the back up earlier about you know what.

If we were closer, we'd do lunch:-)

Anonymous said...

I love my swiffer. I don't like the home shows but I do like the garsen ones in the spring and I walk out with a whole (shitload) of things...some freebees.

I do agree that they are gigantic infomercials.
xxxJolie

luckyzmom said...

Going to the gaming convention in LV next month with my husband. Wonder what they will be giving away? Money?!