People Don't Read

[jim_p]

The other day we decided to sell the round dining room table that used to be the shop's design counter. We set it out on the sidewalk in front of the shop with a sign listing details, price, and an arrow pointing to the shop: "See Jim".

A couple hours later someone comes into the shop and buys the table. He says he'll need to come back with a vehicle to pick it up, so I grab a red marker and write "SOLD" in big red letters across the sign.

About an hour after that a lady comes into the shop:

"Are you Jim?"
"Yes"
"I'm interested in that table"
"Sorry, it's been sold"
"...oh"

In other words, despite the word "SOLD" written in large, friendly red letters across the sign, she completely ignored that and asked about it.  She DID read the sign, since she asked for "Jim", as the sign said.

So: People don't read.  Or, at least, people don't read what they don't WANT to read.

How can I profit from this?

Comments

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

It feels like the moral is, you can tell people everything because they will only hear what they want to hear. The trick, I think, is telling them the part they want to hear early enough to grab their attention and/or late enough for them to remember it later - otherwise it'll get lost in the sea of "wahwahwah"

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you were just holding it for someone, but they had changed their mind and decided they didn't want it, and you hadn't had the time to sell it yet.

Or else she thought she was prettier than the person you sold it to, and you could get a better deal selling it to her than them.

Or she has a problem with the English Language.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

yeah, my guess is that she thought she might be able to outbid the original buyer. Or that she wanted to put in a backup offer in case the original deal fell through--which can happen quite often, depending on the situation.