People, Places: Raison d’être

Let them eat cake, and they will buy!

I’ve been looking for a different desk for my home office.  I browsed magazines, furniture stores, online stores, you name it.  I had a price point, size and style in mind.  A friend recommended that I consider buying a desk from someone on craigslist, so I checked out the options. 

Last Sunday, I found a desk that I liked.  I called the man who posted it, and I asked a few questions about the desk to confirm it fit my criteria.  In particular, I wanted to make sure my knees would not bump into the top drawer.  The seller was very pleasant.  He was in the middle of throwing a party, but he ran upstairs, phone in hand, to sit at the desk and describe how much leg room he had.  The specs were to my satisfaction, so I made the 20+ mile drive to Norwood, MA on a rainy day.

I arrived to a very warm welcome.  The party was in his estate furniture store which was closed on that day. He immediately invited me into the store, offered me a piece of cake and introduced me to his family. I chose chocolate of course.  The party was for his niece and many family members where coming and going while I was there checking out the desk. He hugged and kissed family members as they departed.  He took the time to describe his new business to me.  He started his estate business about three years ago.  He’s been selling furniture at auctions.  He recently opened this store, so that he could sell furniture at the street level and hold auctions in the lower level.  He put his heart and soul into the space. It took him 10 days to remove five layers of carpet, tile and who knows what else covered the gleaming hardware floors that were now exposed.  He was proud of his work.

We negotiated a price for the desk, matching chair and delivery.  It was a fair price for the quality of the desk, but that’s not why I bought it.  In the end, I wanted to support his new businesses.  He was friendly, and I liked his story.  I observed how he treated his family and how they responded to him.  My purchase was really an investment in his new business.  It’s another example of how people do business with people.  If he was rude or cranky, I’m not sure I would have bought the desk.  Afterall, I already have one, so there was no urgency.

If I purchased a desk from IKEA, I would not have an interesting story to tell about it.  My not-so-new desk has character just like the man that sold it to me.

November 16, 2009 Posted by aburnis | Interesting people | entrepreneur, estate sale, MA, Norwood | Leave a comment