Chloe - Or The Power Of Advertising

I have just visited Young & Jackson's pub in the center of Melbourne...in the center of the Australian Open tennis contest. It is amazing to see what the customers wear, though I must say nothing beats the appearance of the North American tourists here in the hotel where I am staying. If you are not quite awake when you go into the dining room, you will be when you leave, and it won't be the hotel coffee. I suppose it is just a sign of my advancing age, but I find the sight of feed caps worn backwards indoors unsettling. It might be quite alright in a shule in Nebraska, but....

Moving right along on the camera salesman's holiday, we come to visits to other shops and purchases with a credit or debit card. I do not buy things that cost pennies with mine, but I do employ it to purchase books and toy cars...and they cost considerably more than pennies. The variety of Eftpos machines is amazing, and I do not feel quite so bad about the cranky ones we use now that I have seen others in non-action. Nor am I inclined to be quite so apologetic about the Hansa computer system we labour I under, having watched other data bases explode into virtual flames and crash into the sea in front of me. Only 30% of the shops that I normally deal with have a continuity of data from one year to the next...and we do far better than that. Adam is to be complimented after all.

Another thing that stands out in the shops is the fact that the most successful ones have the most enthusiast staff. Note I did not say enthusiastic I mean that the ones where the salesperson is a geek for the goods means that the goods are better. They might not be better presented but they are better sold - someone cares about them and knows about them.

And for the curious, Chloe is naked. And has been drawing viewers into the Y&J bar for over a hundred years on that basis. I am going to present this fact at the first staff meeting when I get back. Black shirts and sensible trousers are all very well but there is an untapped market out there that very few camera stores have capitalised upon. Think of the ironing it would save...

Uncle Dick

PS: You think Perth is a small town? The shopkeeper in the toy car shop knows one of our customers!  Hey, John!