Hey, Hamann, I agree with you, that kind of treatment, in fact, that kind of behavior is unacceptable in anyone, businessman or not.
-But I can't just plain condemn the guy. Please listen to my story:
The first time I went inside the Ceratec shop was 4-5 months ago. I just happened to notice his CDs, is all; the shop was empty at the time, except for that same person whose behavior you were telling us about. I greeted him-he just nodded-I asked permission to look at his stuff, and he gave it. I quickly found something interesting-the Jazz At The Pawnshop XRCD, not exactly thick on the ground locally. I turned to him-and his face was all lit up, smiling, I'd like to believe it wasn't at the prospect of a sale but because I'd picked that particular CD. He asked: "Would you care to listen to it first?" He motioned to a setup consisting of British Art Audio tube amplifiers, a pair of German Ceratec loudspeakers, and a Rotel DVD-Audio player-it was my turn to smile, of course I said yes!
I ended up spending three hours-THREE hours-during which we argued back and forth about the merits of this speaker brand and that, tube vs. SS, Miles Davis vs. everybody else, incidentally we also discovered our mutual admiration for Ozzy Osbourne, etc. Needless to say, that was NOT the last time I bought from Ceratec, nor the last time we talked that long-I now have my own pair of Ceratec speakers, which the owner delivered HIMSELF. We ate pizza together at my house.
That first time I showed up at his shop, I was wearing my usual malling attire: T-shirt, denim shorts, and slippers. Not D&G or Emporio-a desperately jologs Bob Marley tee from Top 40, battered fake Levi's, and 80 peso sandals from World Balance. I wasn't even wearing a watch nor waving around no cellphone-and I'm the LAST person you'd suspect of having Chinese or mestizo ancestry. At some other dealers I've visited, the sales staff practically shoved me out of the premises. The guards manning the SM entrances take one look at me-and sneer.
The guy at Ceratec-a person of obviously mestizo lineage at least twice my age-NEVER did.
But that does not constitute my defense of him-nope, as someone acutely aware of the real conditions prevailing in our so-called "economy" these days, well, I can't help sympathizing with the little guy. And little guy he is-if MY employers, ranked one of the 15 strongest organizations around, people whose products you see around you every day, are having THIS much trouble making or even trying to BORROW money (and I should know 'coz that's MY job-believe me, if you think that Ceratec dude's nasty, get a load of my boss)...imagine how it is for someone trying to sell essentially just his dreams, the things he LOVES. Heck, he only matters to us because we happen to share...
As adults, we are expected not only to fight for our rights but to respect the rights of others-even during our weaker moments, MORESO during our weaker moments. I am going to talk to him about THIS.