How To Fail At Car Salesmanship In Eight Easy Steps

Background: My car is older than dirt and repairs are expensive, so my time has FINALLY come to replace it. We went to the dealer in October to get an idea of what we wanted and what kind of timeline we had. Met a very nice saleslady who was helpful, and we decided to go back to her in December. Then the Princess totaled her car. I called the nice saleslady and explained we now needed TWO cars and made an appointment with her. Pretty much guarantee her that we are buying from her (also, we’re terrible at bargaining, so honestly, we’re easy). Saleslady calls back and explains she’s been called away, but her manager has assigned a guy to us who will help us.

 

How-To List

1)   Start with the Princess and show her the car in the showroom, which is a higher model than what we want, but close enough. Sticker price is a little more than the insurance money, but we can bargain.

2)   Discuss with us her needs for a car and the desired amount we want to spend (we are sticking to our insurance money because I’m still not a fan of buying my child a new car for no reason).

3)   Return with a sheet that lays out the car with a price $18,000 more than we want to spend, and $8,000 more than the sticker price on the actual car in the showroom.

4)   Call over manager.

5)   Repeat process with manager. Be so confident that you remove the car from the showroom and start preparing it to go home with us.

6)   Return with a sheet that lays out a barebones version of the car with a price $12,000 more than we want to spend and $6,000 more than the one on the floor that’s a higher model.

7)   We say no thank you and get up to leave.

8)   Ask us, “Do you still want to talk about YOUR car?”

 

Conclusion: Lose an easy sale of two cars at the end of the calendar year, at the end of the month, and tick off the saleslady who was banking on part of the commission. 

 

Moral: Never ask a salesman to do the work of a saleswoman. J

Take A Treat, Leave A Treat

 If you know me, you know I’m on Facebook a lot. Not because I like it—it’s gotten political and depressing and stressful—but because as an author, I find it necessary. It’s one of my most effective ways of reaching people to not only tell them about my books, but to interact with them, as well. And yes, it’s also my “water cooler” since I work at home and have no one to talk to but my husband (whom I love dearly, but you know, variety).

 

Well, Facebook is also useful for learning things, especially from my friends, most of whom are far wiser than I am. One of those friends, Rebecca, posted what she’s doing this holiday season, and I loved it so much, I decided to steal it copy emulate her*. 

 

I love this idea! While we don’t get a ton of packages, especially now that the girls are gone, we do get some. And delivery drivers have been coming to my house through wind, rain, sleet, snow, and pandemic. I’ve often wanted to tip them for their service, but not all of them are regulars and I never know precisely when they would arrive (while I’m fine leaving food treats outside unsupervised, I’m less inclined to leave money outside—sorry neighbors). 

 

But a basket of treats? What a fantastic idea! It’s a great way to help them celebrate the holidays. And yesterday was the first day we had a delivery. I saw the truck arrive and stood in the window waiting for the driver to come up to the porch. Couldn’t have cared less what the package was (it happened to be dog food, but really, I wouldn’t have cared if it was jewelry), I wanted to see the delivery guy’s reaction.

 

This guy is a regular. He knows our dog, calls her by name, waves at her or pets her, depending on where she is. Truthfully, I think he’s probably more of a dog person than a food person, since he gave her a bigger reaction than he did to the treats. But, I saw him take one, and I was excited enough for the both of us. 

 

I might do it year round.

 

*Rebecca’s not the only one doing this. I’ve also seen others, but she was the first I saw, so she’s my source. Kudos to everyone else who have been doing this far longer than I!

Oy

It’s been a week (or two). A week of holiday celebrations and puppies (and peeing) and car accidents (all is fine) and family get-togethers and friends hanging out and on and on and on. We’re fine, it’s fine, I’m fine. Lots of excitement, both good and bad, lots of appreciation that things weren’t much worse, and lots and lots of cooking and cleaning. And eating. Don’t forget the eating.

No wonder I’m exhausted. I actually spent almost all of Saturday in bed, and I never do that. Probably because as someone who works from home, that’s a terrible habit to develop…at least for me. 

 

Anyway, I’ve got a little less than two weeks to get back to normal before everyone descends again and we have three to six weeks of chaos. I plan to spend that time writing and editing. At least I hope to do so. 

 

In the meantime, if you’re looking for a short holiday read, I’d love for you to try my Hanukkah novella.

 

And if you haven’t yet signed up for my newsletter, don’t forget to click here. I’ll be having lots of new book news shortly!

 

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

 

Fried Oreos

Welcome to my blog! I'm so happy to have you here. Yes, I have an amazing recipe for you, which you can find here.

But first, I'd like to tell you about how it came to be my specialty dish for Hanukkah.

My husband and I went to a county fair. We've gone to several over the years, some with our kids and some without. And on one of those trips, we came across a vendor selling fried Oreos. They were amazing--decadent, delicious, and filling. We both loved them, which is kind of an amazing thing to happen since our food tastes differ drastically.

After the fair, I mentioned how I thought I could make them myself. As you'll see from the recipe, they're not hard. So I did. And, after seeing how much oil they require, I decided that they'd be the perfect addition to our Hanukkah celebrations.

You see, during Hanukkah, we eat sweet fried foods, like donuts, to commemorate the desecration of the temple and the miracle that the oil to light the lamps in the temple lasted for eight days, even though it seemed as if there wasn't enough oil to last for more than one. 

Well, a fried Oreo is similar to a donut, so it makes perfect sense that we'd eat it then. And our friends and family love it! In fact, I'm now asked to make it even during other times of the year (although I usually decline--there's only so much oil one can consume).

I hope you enjoy the recipe, which you can find here. And, if you like to read about food and other traditions, I hope you'll take a look at my contemporary romances. Many of them feature Jewish characters, they all feature witty banter, delicious food, and well-deserved happily ever afters.