Posted by El_Gato on May 05, 2001 at 16:29:35:
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Or at least bargaining and observation. I was approached today in a dumpy parking lot by an Italian man w/nice clothes in a rental car. He asked me to help him out w/ his problem. Seems he works for a clothing retailer out of Italy called GV Milano. He's at the end of his one week stay after showing samples at Horton Plaza. As a gift, his boss gave him a long black leather jacket, a black sport leather jacket and a brown sport leather jacket. Together they retail at over $3000. However, if he brings them back with him to Italy, he needs to pay for additional first class luggage space, approximately 40% in taxes on the retail value, only to bring the clothes home where his family will take claim of the goods. So he's willing to sell them for cash, $600. I tell him I have no money and can only get $300 which is the daily limit. (Which is partially true, I could probably get cash advances off my credit card as well if I really needed to) He says if I buy him a camera w/ my credit card for $150 in addition to the $300, it's a deal. So as I'm driving to the bank, I'm going over everything in my head. I'm far from a clothes connossieur, so I have no idea if these are authentic, but they look authentic. They appear very well made, the buttons have the logo, the plastic covers have the logo, the hangers have the logo, and the bag they're in have the logo. I've seen his passport and plane tickets, he's well dressed, he's in a rental car, he has a large was of American and Italian money. He appears to be the real thing. So I get $300 out of the bank and we drive to the Electronics place. They have a small collection of cameras so we walk around the aisle where boomboxes catch his eye. He starts looking at some rather large boomboxes in the $200 range. This gets me somewhat suspicious because his luggage space concern seems to suddenly have gone out the window. He asks me my opinion on a particular boombox and I give him an expression that I'm about to back out of this deal. He pulls out his wallet to show me something, I don't recall what it was, because what catches my eye is what appears to be a Vons Club card behind some of the other cards, and I start thinking about why an Italian here for a week has a Vons Club card. So my alarms are going off and I stop to think. This gets him a little agitated, as he says his flight is tonight, which makes me more uncomforable as I don't like the pressure. I tell him I'm hesitant because I really am not sure if I can afford even the $300. (I can) So he says no problem, let's go. We walk out of the store where he says $300 cash only and they're yours. I'm still hesitant because I'm not much of a spender on clothes and I have no idea if these are authentic, but I figure it's only $300 and they look like nice jackets. So I now have 3 GV Milano jackets for $300. Did I do the right thing?
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