She Should Know That No Is No Right

I will see you Thursday, she says, all settled, without my answer.
Not needing it. She sells insurance. She is pushily confident.
I cringe, want to bail, but do not want her to stay another hour or two.
I have already wasted two hours saying no to more insurance.
What will be different on Thursday?
How can she not hear the word “no”? 

She is my cousin, she should know that no is no. Right?
Of course we did lose touch for twenty-five years.
She recently called me, and I answered, delighted.
She said she wanted to come visit.
I invited her, happy.
Cleaned the house for nothing.

She came in dressed as management.
There was limited chatting.
I kept watching the clock.
My husband barricaded himself behind his office door, recognizing this type.
Mouthfuls of persistent 'you-need-to-buy these' came out of her mouth.
A sales presentation, under the pretense of getting re-acquainted.
I doubt she knows a thing about me she did not know 
Twenty-five years ago.
Cannot say I want to learn anything about her either.
I will call and text her a cancel for Thursday when she is on her way home.
She already said she cannot answer a text in the car.
A clue that would have been helpful two hours sooner.
I started devouring the fudge muffins I baked for no reason.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2019



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Date: 1/21/2019 8:30:00 AM
I think sales people are brainwashed by their employers, to believe that the sale is more important than anyone or anything. Had a water filter salesman come one night; 6 hours later we were still saying, "no"; Every five minutes he'd go phone his boss, come back with a new offer or reason why we needed to have the product installed. We practically had to have the police throw him out.
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Caren Krutsinger
Date: 1/21/2019 1:16:00 PM
I used to be a stockbroker. I am frightened to tell you I was amazingly good at it.
Date: 1/21/2019 8:01:00 AM
I feel your pain; I was likewise straddled to my kitchen table despite a toddler who needed his bath; a kitchen waiting for me to clean the dishes so I could go to bed. Body language, words - none matter. All I remember hearing over and over was, 'no, you don't really need it BUT you HAVE to have it." At least I wasn't called by a relative who tapped into my emotions just so she'd get a bump in her bank attack. Such a dysfunctional and, I would think, somewhat painful,upsetting memory. CC
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Caren Krutsinger
Date: 1/21/2019 1:17:00 PM
You should have picked the sales maestro up and offered to bathe them with the baby, walking promptly away, locking yourself into the bathroom until you heard them leave. When sales people call me, I always put a cheerful, babbling, delighted three-year-old on the phone. I have learned the salesperson will actually hang up first.
Date: 1/21/2019 4:36:00 AM
Hey I could relate to this. Something of this sort happened to me ... Good one :)
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Caren Krutsinger
Date: 1/21/2019 7:58:00 AM
Thank you. This is usually a relative or dear friend whom I thought had been deceased for a thousand years. I cannot believe I am still fooled by their pretence at seeing me because they have "missed me." Really?
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