Travel At Your Own Risk

When I accepted the invitation to the 60 min presentation in exchange for a $75 Visa gift card, I knew what I was in for. At a vacation in Gatlinburg a few years ago, a man flagged us down and offered us a $100 bill to listen to a 90 min presentation for a timeshare. The presenter got agitated at me when I told him I had no intention of buying anything and was only there for the $100. He ended the presentation in 30 minutes and awarded us our $100. His blood pressure was a little higher, but my wallet was a little fatter.

I should have known that it wouldn’t be as easy this time. I had rented a few days from my friend’s timeshare property in Florida and booked an appointment for a similar presentation the day after arriving. The host promised that there would be no pressure. “We’re different than everyone else,” she promised. I tried to give her subtle hints. I relayed the scenario in Gatlinburg, but that didn’t seem to register with her. When I expressed my desire to visit New York, she asked what kind of place could we rent in New York with the money we had spent so far on this vacation. I joked that a cardboard box in Central Park would be about all, but she still didn’t seem amused. She continued to attempt to lure me into buying a timeshare by explaining how they had a partnership with Bass Pro Shops and I could go hunting and fishing anywhere in the world. Unfortunately for her, I’m probably the only Tennessean that could care less about hunting and fishing. “Heck,” I explained, “I’ve never even set foot in a Bass Pro Shop.”

Finally, she brought her manager out. I began to feel as if I were on Deal or No Deal. I must admit that they made me some pretty good deals though. I now know that if I ever want to buy a timeshare to act like I don’t want one. I could have gotten it for ¼ of the advertised price. However, a timeshare is not currently in my budget or list of priorities. After 2 hours, I finally told her that I came to Florida for vacation and had no intention of buying anything. Once again, I was asked why I booked the presentation. “For the $75 gift card,” I said. “We’re finished here,” she said.

I understand that she was a sales-person and it was her job to try and sell me the timeshare, but I don’t understand the lengths that she went to. Maybe that's why I'm not a salesman. I used to feel guilty when I worked at H&R Block when the manager used to push H&R Block’s other products on people who couldn’t afford it. Most people were only there to get their taxes back in a quick way. Nevertheless, they usually bought products from the other tax preparers as they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. I have some sort of a conscience thing going on and never could do that to someone. Some of the stories taxpayers would tell me were heart wrenching. I couldn’t take advantage of them for my gain. That’s pretty much why I was written up for not offering “H&R Block’s additional services.”

When undermining my priorities didn’t work, she tried to gain sympathy by telling me that I made her feel like she wasn’t doing her job good enough. Before it was all over, I had the impression that she was one of those people that thought she was better than the people she was selling to. I interpreted her dialogue to mean that she thought she was smarter than me as well. I’m glad she felt that way. After all, I’m the one that got the gift card that paid for food at Disney (actually 2 large Domino's pizzas and a couple tanks of gas)by listening to her failed sales attempt. I got paid and she didn't.

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When I bought my Garmin Nuvi GPS system last winter, I thought it was the greatest technology ever developed. It has come in useful on several occasions by taking me turn-by-turn exactly where I needed to go. In the past, I’ve relied on directions from Yahoo and Expedia. I had so much confidence in the GPS system that I relied on it solely for our trip to Florida. On our return, however, I was ready to throw it in the garbage.

I was not happy with the route it took me to Florida on. It took us on a bunch of back roads through Alabama when I would have rather taken the interstate. On our return, I entered “Opry Mills” in hopes that it would take me through Georgia on the interstate instead of the back roads of Alabama. After wasting an hour driving through side roads, it finally got me to the interstate….for a little while.

When we got near Atlanta, it directed me off of the interstate into Atlanta city limits. I was legitimately scared of being car-jacked at any moment. I kept thinking of Greg Brady in the Brady Bunch movie, “Well, of course this is a car. But my name's not Jack.” For what seemed like an eternity, I drove through the heart of Atlanta before finally getting back to the interstate. My interstate ride was once again short lived. The GPS directed me to a few more side streets before guiding us back to the same highway that we had exited off of. Luckily, this stretch should have guided us straight into or around Nashville.

The next exit should have been I-440W, but the GPS was forecasting an exit at Franklin, Tn. I’ve driven to Nashville and Chatanooga enough to know that the forecast simply couldn’t be right. After fiddling around with the settings for a few minutes, I programmed “fastest time” into the system. “Shortest distance” had previously been programmed in. That did the trick and I-440W showed up as the next exit on my GPS screen. Had I have known that that would do the trick, I probably wouldn’t have wasted 2 hrs and risking my life by driving through side streets of Orlando and Hotlanta. Stupid me. I was thinking that “shortest distance” and “fastest time” would have been one in the same. Who’d have thunk it?