In the balance

4:01pm Monday 2nd March 2009

By Doug Akroyd

It was time for what we tend to call "a light spend" in biking circles, after the chain kept slipping wildly, and a tyre was left decidedly flat after a hole appeared in its wall and punctured the inner tube.

I took the opportunity to garner a few more items while I was in the bike shop… lubricants, cleaning fluids, new summer gloves and the like… and expected a reasonable tot-up of prices.

But as the sales assistant totalled the items up on his computer screen, I was momentarily left wondering when he raised his eyebrows and almost took a deep intake of breath as if to say: "Blimey, that’s a big amount"!

Fortunately, it was roughly in line with what I had been expecting, and actually felt quite relieved when he told me the total.

I couldn’t decide whether it was good sales technique… pulling someone back from the brink of a heart attack… or not.

On balance, I think I would have preferred to hear it straight!

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