For three out of the last four Christmases the Garman family has opted against staying in the in the UK over the festive period. After reading up on the weather reports on the internet whilst we were away, it looked like we made a fairly good call.
This time round our Christmas trip took us to somewhere I’d always wanted to go – India, and after spending a few crazy days in and around the beautiful chaos that is Mumbai, we headed off to Goa for some peace and tranquility.
Despite staying in a tiny village in South Goa there were still plenty of opportunities for my wife and our young daughter to wander aimlessly from shop to shop looking at everything from shoes to carved wooden elephants.
‘Why does Mummy have to go into EVERY shop Daddy?‘ My son said to me, as we walked a constant 20 yards ahead of the girls.
‘That’s what women do I’m afraid son – you’ll learn more about that as you get older.’
Then all of a sudden a very young girl caught my attention – not because her shop was different to any other on the footpath, not because of her appearance – but simply because of her approach.
She had obviously decided that ‘come inside my shop, very good prices‘ was way too common to generate sufficient footfall, so she had replaced it with a big smile and a far more jovial ‘Please have a look at some of my expensive rubbish!’ It just took us all by surprise.
By this time my wife and daughter had caught up and on hearing this we couldn’t have done anything else but to smile and go in. Whilst my wife and daughter immediately started foraging for whatever took their fancy I started talking to her, and more specifically inquiring about her sales strategy.
‘It’s quite simple sir, I saw you all walking together and that your wife was looking at many different things. I heard her say ‘No thank you’ to the other shop owners so I knew you were English and wanted to try something different.’
That afternoon we stayed in the young girl’s shop long enough for my wife and daughter to purchase enough stuff to add another 10kg of baggage weight for our return flight. More importantly, we bought nearly every holiday gift for friends and family from the same, single shop. Indeed so engrossed with the conversations and her charm that I very nearly, but not quite, forgot to negotiate in the process (I’m afraid some old habits take a little longer to change).
As I sipped my cold beer that evening as the sun went down on the beach I couldn’t help but think that sometimes, amongst all of the options we get presented with, all we’re really looking for is something that stands out from the crowd.
