Tibetan Market aka The Mall at Christmas Time

So considering my business, I spend a lot of time at the malls in my area. I hadn't been out to Woodfield for a bit and ventured there last night. Can someone tell me when the center kiosks turned into some Indo-Chinese marketplace? I'm not talking about the people, I'm talking about their tactics for acquiring customers. I don't know if any business schools teach it, but I think tackling a passerby to show them your hands-free cell phone attachment is not the best way to obtain sales.

I can understand the cell phone guys - competition is heavy. I mean, the T-Mobile booth is literally 20 feet from the Cingular booth in some places - you've got to stop people before they get to Cingular or else you won't see them for 2 years or the $175 escape clause, whichever comes first. But, if you've seen my picture on the blog, you understand that I don't need some lady diving in front of me to show me the "almost real" ponytail extension she thinks I need. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not the Missing Link (though many people think I have many links missing.) I also will not be needing any pictures where I can see the water actually "move." I know you don't have any hanging in your house, so I can say this: what double-wide owner actually thinks these pee-inducing pictures add class to their trailer?

Well, last night I'm trying to escape Woodfield (still crowded at 11 pm - you think people would've figured out how to shop online already,) and a guy who looked more like the short version of Jim Ignatowski than Doc Brown leapt in front of me asking if he could show me his "invention." Before the mentorship I have now, I probably would've knocked him into H&M for saying something like that, but last night "people skills" me took over and said, "sure." He proceded to go through this whole demonstration of what, in essence, was a sound amplifier that attached to your cell phone and cut out your radio so that you could speak and hear through the sound-system in your car. Everything seemed cool until he wanted to demonstrate the product. First, he didn't have second cell phone with a charged battery, so I let him call my phone from his. Second, when he called the phone and the speaker system thing took over, I only understood every other word. "Thanks, but no thanks," I told him, "and please, don't call me now that you have my cell phone number." After a hesitation, I leaned back and said, "Oh, who cares, I probably wouldn't understand you anyway." Lessons learned, all the way around.