Long ago I learned never to judge people by their appearance or how they present themselves. I had a small ranch for sale in Northern California in 1974, and received an inquiry written on a torn off piece of grocery bag. I dismissed the matter. A few weeks later I received a phone call from the person saying that she was going to be in Northern California in a few days and wanted me to meet her at the property. Begrudgingly I agreed, and made the long drive to the area near the Oregon Border. I met the woman and her two crying kids, and a friend of hers who went along for the ride. She looked the place over, said she liked it, went out to her truck and came back with a paper sack stuffed with $75,000 in cash and a .357 magnum. I was stunned.
Turns out her husband was working in the North Sea as an oil explorer, and she was chosen to buy the property. I asked her why she brought cash and she said she didn't want me to think she was just effing around. We did up some paperwork and she gave me the cash and the gun. When she gave me the gun she said "You'll need this now ..." I had to spend three days guarding the cash until the title company opened after the weekend. In 1968 a few of us were bopping down Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, and were along Auto Row. One of the group, "a raggedy looking hippy chick," spied a car that caught her eye, walked into the showroom, and said she wanted to buy it. The salesman treated her like trash ... his mistake. The raggedy looking woman was Grace Slick, the lead singer for the very popular (and quite successful) Jefferson Airplane. Shel > Leon Altoff wrote: > > Someone I know had a different experience. > He was driving along and though he might like to buy a convertible (he > does this). He stopped at a Honda dealership and asked to test drive > their convertible. He was dressed very casually at the time - shorts, > polo shirt, $2000 watch - and the salesman replied with "You can drive > it when you've bought it". > He just shook his head and went away. On his way home he passed a > Mazda dealership and saw a limited edition MX5 on display. They said > that the limited edition wasn't for test driving, but he could take > the standard model which drives the same so he could get a feel for > it. he came back from the test drive and pointed at the limited > edition and said, "I'll have one of those". > The salesman asked him to come inside to fill in the finance forms and > he just handed him his credit card and said "Just put it on this". > The salesman looked a bit shocked when he went in but was smiling when > he came out and said that the car would be ready on Wednesday.
