Sunday 7 February 2016

Buying Appliances

Sunday Mornin' Coming Down - A post about my Dad each Sunday, named after a song that he loved.

Jason and I visited a Sears Whole Home store yesterday in Ottawa. It was a bit difficult for me, as this was the type of store that Dad had worked in for the last 10-15 years of his career before retirement. I remember him making the move from Brantford Sears to sell appliances in Ancaster at this new type of store, I was in Grade 7 or 8 at the time.

We are looking for a stack-able washer and dryer for the new house and it is hard to find decent information about what would be the best one to get (we are considering cost, size, height, durability, and value.) I have been researching online, but am really missing the knowledge I could have gotten from Dad on this - the man knew his appliances.

I wasn't super impressed with the guy that spoke to us at the Ottawa store. Definitely didn't have the charm that I know my dad would have had on the sales floor, since he was pretty enjoyable to be around in general. The vibe at the store was familiar though - employees joking around with each other, the two sales guys hanging out side-by-side, one gave the other a 'nod' as to who would 'get' us.

Dad used to say that he always told potential customers to come back and ask for "George with a beard." I guess at some point there was a second George? It is a bit funny to me because for a while, when I was really young, he used to have a mustache. I always wondered if he had to change his line when he changed his facial hair. However, I think the 'mustache phase' was when he worked as a Department Manager (in many different sections, everything from shoes to seasonal) so he possibly always had a beard by the time he moved into sales.

1 comment:

Sweeton said...

Yes, always a beard when he was in sales. He shaved it off for a short time when he was a manager. I don't remember why. He would have loved to help you shop for appliances. You would think he would be tired of it, working with them, but he always went in appliance stores in other countries and checked them out in peoples kitchens and laundry rooms when we visited.