private reserve and public annoyance

... luxuriant and well-read enough already

06.24.05

One of the particularly nice benefits of working for a corporately-own salon is gratis. For you see, when a large company has a large account with a product vendor, the vendors tend to be very generous in wooing the client, namely us.

At Younkers (Saks Inc), whenever a company would launch a new product line, or relaunch a newly restyled old product line, we'd get a selection of stylist samples. We try the products, we like the products, we sell the products. You know. When Matrix Sleek.look came out, I got all 5 items in the line at the time, all in a cute puffy orange plastic tote. When Paul Mitchell introduced Super Skinny, I got the shampoo and conditioner. When Redken relaunched their Extreme line, I got shampoo, conditioner, a deep treatment, and a leave-in. Actually, I got two of these sets.

At My Current Place of Employment, Alterna has just started wooing us. They sent us 12-packs of full-sized stylist samples, including Hemp Seed Texture Glaze, Hemp Seed Sculpting Putty, and Hemp Seed Repair Weekly Treatment.

And then they sent us White Truffle Luxury Shampoo and White Truffle Luxury Conditioner. They retail at our location, respectively, for $30 and $36.

Now honestly, I have no need for $66 shampoo and conditioner. I've still got so much fucking stuff left over from Saks Inc. gratis, that I'm still set for a couple of years. And since I was given the products to take home and use however I see hit, I decided to sell them on eBay.

People are ponying up $40 or so for the sets on eBay, not realizing that it can be had for around $70 elsewhere, and I'm more than happy to sell mine.

So, after a week, and starting at $9.99 for a bid, the auction ended, and now I'm awaiting $38 payment on paypal, so I can ship the set out.

I still at the heart of things think the people buying this crap are suckers, but it's their money. It's just too bad they don't realize that you can buy it online in various other, and possibly more legitimate, places, like beautysak.com. And if there's an Ulta nearby, they have it for cheap too. They don't sell it on their website, but they do in their stores. I know because I've seeeen it with my own eyes.

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After a telemarketing firm in the Phoenix area called me 4 times this week, and I actually repeatedly told them that I wasn't interested in receiving the Chicago Tribune, they AGAIN called me today. I swear I am going to knock some skulls together. I don't care if it is an exceptionally good deal, and that reading the paper at home is a swell thing to do -- I can read it at work for free if I so desire, which I generally don't. I don't care about the special rate they're offering. I'm more interested in them leaving me alone.

To me, the most curious part of this whole thing though, is that the telemarketing firm's number lists on my caller id as an actual number, and not as some vague "Unknown," "Restricted," or "Outside Caller" listing.Granted, you can't actually dial it to any effect, but at least it is recognizable. I mean, you can dial it, but you'll just get an earful of busy signal.