2004-10-05 - 10:58 p.m.

almost forgotten, but worthy of note

I forgot to mention that I put in an order today for a new balance for the lab. Isn't it fascinating to say that you spent last week on the phone with "balance salesmen"?

Well, I finally ordered "balance" (or rather *a* balance) today. And I chose the Mettler Toledo over the Sartorius model (even though Sartorius is a far cooler name).

Turns out most balance salesmen are slightly imbalanced, and in fact one guy out of Boston turned downright hostile. I chose the alternative brand partly because the sales representative in Boston was so irritating that I didn't wish to be stuck dealing with him in future. And then today when he called and I informed him that I had chose a different model, he began actively berating me on the phone, saying that next time *he'd* lie to the customer too if it guaranteed a sale. At that point I simply said, "Sir, I don't need to listen to this." And so he hung up on me.

I am trying to decide if it is worth sending a letter of complaint to the company, or if I should just ignore it and let it go. On the one hand, a company should know that their representatives are actually turning potential customers off so much that they are losing sales (and it might make me feel better to inform them that no one from our growing department is likely to call on them in future!). On the other hand, what effort. I need to learn when to get out of situations.

Eh, well, it felt good to fantasize about the letter. Now I am letting the pebble go, grasshopper.