I follow the example my late Father set for me. The retired head of the Chemical Division of Eastman Kodak who was raised dirt poor in SW Virginia -- a member of the famed Carter Family, the founders of Bluegrass and Country Music. When Dad took early retirement in 1981, he focused on his true loves -- working on the 100 acre Family farm, building expert quality furniture out of the woodworking shop on the farm loaded with the highest quality gear available, and building a 3,000 square foot log cabin out of 3 log cabins originally built between 1820 and 1850.
When he was in the market for new cars, trucks, televisions, or nice furniture, he went to the stores in a beat up farm truck, his sweatshirt and jeans covered in sawdust from the woodworking shops, and asked to speak to a salesman. 99% of them ignored him thinking he was a lowly farmer with little to no money to spend, but the 1% who treated him like a valuable customer with dignity ended their interaction with a product sold with cold, hard, cash. Whether it was a $100 chair or a $30,000 brand new pickup truck. The other salesmen would crap their pants and try to quickly make up ground. Dad never gave them the time of day just as they had him. Usually it was a brand new kid who recently starting working that got Dad’s sale -- and that’s the person he dealt with for the following years as long as they still worked at the store. When I’m in the market for a high-end product I do the same thing -- dress like crap and look like I just rolled out of bed. Whoever treats me like a human being gets my cash.
