A hundred moments in autism - Buying a sofa


By Terrence Oblong
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I needed a sofa, so went down the sofa store, pointed to the sofa I wanted and asked the assistant if I could have one.
The salesman then went into what I could only describe as a weird spasm, which seemed to last several minutes. I waited patiently, I assumed he had some kind of medical condition and didn’t want to interrupt, but I now realise he was pretending to be doing sums in his head and making it look difficult. “That’s £983” he said, when the fake-thinking spasm had finally passed.
“No it’s not,” I said pointing to the £500 sign above the sofa, “It’s £500.”
“Ah, but you need it delivered don’t you,” he said.
“Not really, I can use a friend’s van and pick it up.”
“You’re not allowed to pick it up.”
“In which case delivery should be in the price. Especially when delivery is as much as the sofa.”
“The delivery is £70, the rest is for insurance.”
“£413 insurance?” I said (my maths is instantaneous, no weird face-pulling for minutes on end on my part). “That’s more than my car insurance, and I’m not planning to drive the sofa around – I'm not even allowed to drive it home apparently.”
Sales techniques don’t work on me, pushy sales staff just have me running for the door. And it’s not just sales staff, I’m virtually marketing-proof, I hardly buy any of the leading brands (though I have used Daz washing powder for decades years simply because of a Danny Baker obsession thirty years’ ago when he was advertising the product).
A 2017 article in Psychology Today concluded that advertising doesn’t work for autistic people, and it’s not just because we watch, listen to, eat, wear and generally consume the same things over and over. The paper argued that because autists focus on detail, they were better able to tune out irrelevant data, i.e. marketing.
For autists, the article argued “the package color and the products it is surrounded by are irrelevant to whether or not they put it in their basket. Instead, the autistic shopper focuses on what really matters: ingredients, price, and the necessity of even owning the product. Time and again they select the best product for their needs regardless of how it is displayed.”
Adverts on the telly are also targeted at the neurotypical mind, which may be why Mrs Oblong and myself and other autists I know turn the sound down on the adverts.
But I digress, I was in a sofa shop, getting annoyed with a salesman. The horrifying thing about these pushy and downright weird sales tactics is that this must work on neurotypical people, yet they say it’s the autists there’s something wrong with.
I left without buying the sofa, and bought one in another store which charged the amount advertised.
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Comments
I don't think it's just the
I don't think it's just the autistic who turn the sound down in the adverts, I suppose very occasionally I listen to one out of amusement! We bought a small sofa, new, in a charity warehouse awhile ago. I think they would have delivered (don't know what the cost would have been), but they helped us load it into the car we'd recently passed on to our son and daughter-in-law, into which it fitted. The trouble we had on getting home, though was getting it through the narrow gap between the corner of the house and a fence. My husband didn't actually draw a model ithat time, but he certainly measured up, and it still wasn't cerrtain, even with feet removed, but it just wrigggled by at an angle somehow. I wondered what a delivery man would have made of that. Rhiannon
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It really is, isn't it? The
It really is, isn't it? The one here has gorgeous things we could never buy new, all the people are so friendly, and there's no guilt about damaging environment. And it is fun going in hoping for some big plates (always breaking plates) and not finding any, but coming out with a lampshade to replace the one bashed putting up Christmas decorations :0) But you are right, the "not feeling pressed to buy" is why going in is so easy
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I know someone with autism
I know someone with autism who believes every single word of the advertising rubbish - including the fake 'special price'. so I'm not sure it's universal Terrence, though very good for your bank balance (and disastrous for my friend's)
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I also turn the sound down on
I also turn the sound down on adverts. I'm not autistic unless it's a choice?
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My new favourite one .... I
My new favourite one .... I loved this. Sales is a cutthroat game when you only need to know two things, does the customer want or need this product? and to be completely transparent and honest about what you're selling. Well done you for walking out, but I wouldn't expect anything else. I don't understand how companies using blatant dishonesty get anywhere.
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Ads on TV
I think it became commonpractice when people were watching recorded programmes from hard drives to fast forward through the ads; but now most have switched to internet catch-up services it's not possible to do that. It can be a pain, but also have to bear in mind that for the free networks it's what pays for the programmes.
But an interesting read Terence.
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Picture Credit: https://openverse.org/image/e182ee12-88ef-4f51-948f-a1365b3a8bb8?q=sofa&...
Mr Oblong – the picture has been added for publicity purposes. Please feel free to change or remove.
Readers - please don't assume the editorially inserted sofa picture coincides with what Mr Oblong would purchase, or consider purchasing.
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