Stump the Chump

"Stump the Chump" is what I call it when customers come in and ask if we have a specific item.  I'm the chump.  Whether or not I can help depends on a couple of factors: can I figure out what the customer is trying describe and do we have it in the store.  I guess there's a third factor... if we have it can I find it.

Keeping in mind that there are 40 or so dealers bringing things into the store all the time and there are thousands (tens of thousands?) of items in stock at any one time and I can't even remember what I have in my own booth, the likelihood that I can help the customer seems slim.  But every now and then I'm successful and that feels good.

The other day a customer asked if I knew what gum parkers were and if we had any in the store.  I said I knew what they were.  This surprised her because she said most dealers she asked didn't know what they were.  Unfortunately I didn't know if the store had any because it wasn't on my radar, meaning I could look at it and it wouldn't register in my already overcrowded brain.

The next day was better.  A customer came in just to kill a few minutes before he went to breakfast.  He was not looking optimistic but he asked anyway, probably just to make conversation, "You probably won't, but do you know what a tear bottle is?"  I answered with a simple "yes."  Then he described them and asked if that's what I had in mind.  Another simple "yes."  I was starting to enjoy this.  Then he asked if we had any in the store.  Another simple "yes."  By now he was bouncing on the balls of his feet.  "Where?"  So I grabbed the keys and showed him a selection of 5 or 6.  He was really excited by now.  He said he had been looking for a tear bottle since about 1980 and these were the first he had seen.  He bought a couple of them and left as a very happy customer.

It always feels good when customers find what they are looking for, but it feels great when they are so excited with their find.  Come into Antiques on Main and maybe we have what will make you excited.