Amazon prime, Netflix subscription, trial membership, Costco executive membership, health insurance, skyrocketing car insurance premiums, on and on and on.....almost all business nowadays is trying to get the consumer to pay for things he or she doesn't need, or pay more for things that the consumer does need, like add-ons every time you want to purchase just a laptop, or asking to pay tip at any restaurant, not just sit-down restaurants anymore (the tip options are now all 20 percent- 22 percent-25 percent, an uncontrollable rise of tip inflation). Even podcasts and TV shows are complicit in the "bundling" and bait-and-switch schemes, advertising their products in the middle of the show and taking money from advertisers. It's a bleak time to be at the bottom of society and fitting under the term "end consumer," aka the sucker at the end of the pyramid scheme who has to pay for all the graft, add-ons, litigation, and cost of business associated with any kind of business.
It's refreshing, then, when once in a while I meet the rarest of breeds: an honest businessman, especially a small business owner who isn't just trying to get my money and take advantage of my lack of knowledge about their industry. I fear going to car repair shops, dentists, and other routine places that can easily mark up their prices without fear of repercussion or minimal risk of me leaving the shop and comparing prices somewhere else: the auto shop knows it's got you and you're willing to pay almost any price to fix your car. MJ works for a type of small business owner at her hospital that works in that fashion: sign up any patients that she can convince to join a study, make money from the study, not give patient the best medication (sometimes they get the placebo, which basically does nothing for their health but does help the hospital earn money for the study). However, when I went to a car wash business called "Sammy's Car Wash" the other day to get my car seats cleaned (some blood had been left on the sheets), Sammy, presumably the owner of the car wash, came over to the car, I rolled down the window, and he took a quick glance: "I'm not a thief," he started (good to know). "I'm not trying to steal your money by having you pay for something you don't need." Apparently, my car was not dirty enought to need an interior car wash or in the parlance of the car wash business, a "detail," which sounds expensive but really is just doing a thorough cleaning of the carpet, upholstery, inside parts of the car, maybe with shampoo or some other cleaning product. He did suggest a wax job for the outside of the car to prevent rust, which is fair because I've never applied wax to it and I've had the car for 10 years (just passed my anniversary with the car!) but allowed me to think it over as I just left.
What a luxury to be able to leave a business without having to come up with excuses about not doing business with them! Usually businesspeople will do their best to have you stay on the line or do high pressure tactics like making you worried about not getting the product ("you don't want your car to have an accident, do you?") and weak-willed people like MJ and myself are so used to being nice that we'll cave at some point and just agree to it even though we don't want to, or they'll appeal to our natural inclination to please people by trying to relate to us and being our friend, making us feel like we'd be doing them a favor if we helped them out with the sale, which is true I'd be doing them a favor but in reality I barely know them and don't owe them a thing. Even restaurants now are preying on good-hearted people to feel bad for the waiter/waitress serving them by making the customer pay for the service at the counter while the employee is standing in front of you, and they're literally looking at the same screen to see whether you tipped or not, and give you instant reaction if and when you tip. NOT tipping feels like I'm screwing the person right in front of me, and the button saying 20% tip in big bold letters is staring right at me with the "no tip" or "custom tip" option (usually for a lower % or like $1) hidden way below in an inconvenient place. As long as they're trying to guilt trip, they might as well have a pop up that says, "Are you sure?" if you click "No tip." Even just the whole idea of having to select "No tip" is so crazy. It implies that the default option is NOT "no tip" and you're actively taking money away from employees, when in fact I'm just trying to buy a Subway sandwich or Chipotle burrito (yes, even these places now have option to tip).
I think there has to be a system for rewarding Sammy of "Sammy's Car Wash" for being an honest businessman: usually the financial incentive is to be the exact opposite of honest: you're likely not to see the customer again, so might as well get as much out of them as possible. At some point the threat of losing customers should take over if they continue to screw us and make us buy things we don't need. Another incentive used to be through Google and Yelp reviews, although I'm not sure they're as reliable anymore due to businesses catching on and getting bots to write reviews or encouraging customers to write 5-star reviews for some sort of reward. So for now, I guess the only way to reward Sammy is with repeat business, or at least the spiritual reward of being able to look at potential customers in the eye and give a straight answer, putting one's ethics and conscience ahead of profit and money. A rare breed nowadays indeed.
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