Tough Sell

I think the French don't really fancy money. I don't why, it is a gut feeling thing. See

1) Now, we already found an apartment we like and want to buy it . So we went to the Notary with the sellers to sign an official contract to say we are like dead serious about buying it. The French law has this ( to me) very parental approach to it " after signing this , we will still give you 7 days to think about it, if you change your mind within 7 days, it is penalty-free ( if not, you pay the fines equivalent of 2375 Singaporean and FT who are caught littering in Singapore)." I smiled and smiled and shooked hands with the Notary guy ( who actually asked me quietly where is Singapore....'-_-) . And when I am out of the door, I told DH the guy is crazy. OF COURSE I WANT TO BUY THE APARTMENT! Why must wait another 7 days to confirm the deal ? I am not a kid you know ( *wink) and this is not a Zara blouse, I kind of am very sure I want to buy this place and HOW DARE HE QUESTION US! ".

Of course DH, who mastered the art of driving safely and trying to calm me down all at the same time , told me they just want to be sure we have an "out" should we need it.

Geez, how does an economy improved with this kind of thinking ? Humans are actually processed with abundant sense of knowing what we really want -if not given enough time to think about it. Think of all the impulsive buys we all are guilty of. But impulsive buys are super important to an economy or else what can explain the popularity and the longevity of this Smash Tomato http://www.amazon.com/Smash-It-Tomato-Stress-Relief-Splatter/dp/B002TRI8CO ( don't buy here, cheat one, in China, it is only 3 RMB) .

Now we are given 7 days to think about it when he should grab us by the collars, shake us and spitting saliva all over us yelling happily that this is the best thing we will ever do for ourselves, sealed the deal and earn his commission and saved us one week in the progress . Instead,we are just sitting on our asses to prove we are serious about the deal . He is lucky. I bet shitload of people changes their mind as humans naturally do when given the idea that "this just might not be the BEST BEST BEST thing that ever happens to you / for you". Funny how this rule does not apply for marriage eh ( Mr and Mrs So and So to be, you are given 7 days to decide if you still want to be married even after I announced you man and wife, go forth , don't multiple yet but think and THINK HARD about it) .

Of course truth is , we are not sitting on our asses because there is still the bank to convince.

2) The banks, ah the banks.

We have money to pay for the apartment but we decided to take out a small loan as we are abit sadistic and want to feel in debt like most of the world. For this, we have to submit a mountain of paper works to prove we were not terrorists, am not terrorists and will not be terrorists. We are religiously paying our taxes and my husband has a real job that automatically deduct the taxes anyway so we are automatically religiously paying our taxes. Banker was happy to see, feel, smell the papers and shake our hands declaring we are healthy sane educated and most importantly been taxed automatically and religiously every month. Then he said that the French laws says we have 10 days to think about it.

I smiled and smiled and shook hands with the Banker when we are out of the door, I told DH this is another crazy law. 10 days!!! Have to wait another 10 days to see if we are serious about the loan? Geez! If the win lottery tomorrow , who needs the loan? The banker should have seized the moment and us by our shirts , hugged and thanks us happily that with this instant deal and commission, we have paid for his winter vacation in the Alps this year ( which will boast the economy of Alps) and put him in such good light in the bosses' eyes at the close of Q4.

10 days.. what to do with ourselves man...... sighing... I told DH I am going to try to see if I can exchange a set of plates I bought which has the cutest birdies designs on it but unfortunately not microwaveable . I walked into Monoprix and asked for their exchange policy, the lady HAPPILY told me "Yezzz yezzz ofzzz coursezz youzz canzz returnzz thez platezzz , youzz havezz onezz monthzz tozz dozz sozz ".

ONE MONTH to decide if I want or do not want the plates? My God, they should say 7 days and the customers have come and return them and you know how customers in megacstores are like, they will first come with the pure thoughts " RETURN PLATES. GET REFUND . FASTER GET OUT AND GO HAVE LUNCH AT MACDONALD AND CATCH THE 4PM BUS AND IN TIME TO PLAY AND READ STORY BOOK TO THEIR 3 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER" . But once in the store, all the smell of BRAND NEW THINGS will engulfed them and their purses itching to get out and backsides of their credits wants to be whipped and swiped. I bet 60% of the customers will somehow buy something along when they are doing the refunds. But given these people one month grace? Chances are 20% of them will come in one week, 30% will hover between 2nd and 3rd week and 50% will just forget about it and keep the plates. Always give the customer a reason, ANY reasons to come to your store as soon as they can.

3) Sale or Solde

I swear I love it when France has it seasonal sales where prices are slashed at an honest 70% off ( not those half-f**k sales like 25% or buy 2 get 1 free crap). But I cannot understand the stores love for English worded signs like " DON"T MISS IT!" "GREAT PRICES" "DON'T BUY? LATER DON'T CRY" " BUY ON THE FLY " etc etc . Yes of course quite a little little bit of the youth here knows English and can read some but many many many others don't .

Most of the people here are over 40 years old and these are the ones with money who can afford to buy more on sale. But unless it is again God who just want to highlight the sales to me in mega fonts English, I cannot understand why are these signs not in French? If 2 in 5 French who walks in and really cannot understand the signs, it is worst than 2 in 5 tourists who cannot understand the French sign Soldes ( tourists who don't understand will still buy cause they are in a holiday mood and more likely to anyhow spend) .

I know the French aren't stupid and can ultimately worked it out for themselves but
when I myself at in a store with just French signs, I struggled to decipher the cryptic meaning behind the some French word plays. "Achetez deux pieces and troiseme piece est gratuit avec des coupons . Demandez les coupons sur l'internet www.wedon'treallywanttosellthesetoyou.com . ( Buy 2, get the 3rd free with coupons via internet) .

So I gather perhaps some folks here ( lovely ones too by the way) will find signs in English a tad confusing. NEVER CONFUSE THE CUSTOMERS MORE THAN 1 TIME OR THEY REALLY HATE YOU.

I am starting to like this Socialist country I must say . It is refreshing in the sense, money is simply not a great motivator for a change. As a Capitalist whose hobby is to look at a boulangerie and start calculating the profit margin of a baguette , it changes the whole game for me entirely. I am not sure what to make of all these yet and most probably these thoughts will be just that, thoughts but to perhaps not value money so much , can be a relief.

I am not a financial whiz of course, I have no idea what I said is even half corrected but there is this hair in my mouth that I just want to spit it out and paste it here.

Written on 26th November 2012.