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 Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 7:54 pm
Tilting her head, Jada considered the man, not even bothering to hide her assessment. Or her approving smile, this time. The empty sleeve was barely noted, though not missed; she took in his clothing, hair, and lean form and face with an assessing curiosity. He knew a bit about history, and made wise enough guesses- and his logic couldn't be faulted. "Charming enough." Jada acquiesced, but said nothing further on the matter. He'd probably be more fun to talk to if he didn't have to worry about her being offended and walking out- or he'd drive her up a wall. It was small consolation that she'd probably do the same. "You were right," she said at last, "I just like to see if I can make people squirm. As for you telling me something was out of my budget, while I wouldn't have used your face for a doormat, you certainly wouldn't have made the sale you're going to." Jada had seen quite a few things of interest in her brief perusal through the back- and not just the politely irreverent salesman. She'd learned long ago that you don't show that much interest in items for purchase that you actually wanted, unless they had hard-coded price tag. Still, she might as well get it out of the way. "I'll be taking the cane, those two jewelry boxes, that snuff box over there, that gold-plated mirror on the other row, there was a tea set I thought I saw? I think I counted up about 3 dozen of the books for the library, though I may add on a few more before the end of it." Jada continued, listing off a small selection of other things she had noted that she would want for the spare rooms, and then paused, considering. Jada stepped over to the salesman, leaning in to pluck the earrings from his hand, and looking up into green-gold eyes. "And these. And I'd like you to deliver them, though you can bring help, if you need it. I may add on a few extras, if I notice them."
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Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:04 pm
Charming enough for what? He wondered. Naturally he gravitated toward more inappropriate reasons, but thinking so about a customer proved passe. Isaiah settled for glossing over the comment, and offered a tug of the mouth in acknowledgement. Even lukewarm, a compliment from a customer required reciprocation of a sort.
Isaiah kept his smile to himself while she continued. He met but a handful of people in his life who truly lit a fire under him, and those people either catalyzed disastrously with him or rerouted his course swimmingly. The effects proved antipathic to each other, but the relationships did not - he often enjoyed each of these people for their respective influences over his life. The customer's influence, in this situation, came from her high stakes - and her high stakes came from her expensive outfit. She looked well-kept over every inch of her, and from this, he deduced money. She may drop another pair of boots' worth in his store if she found something she wanted for her father and sister. She started to intimate it, even.
And then she gave him the biggest business boner he could ever dream of, and did so with very little effort on part of her tonal expressions. Ice very nearly choked on his own spit when she charged through her declarations, and he had to temper his own welling excitement by knowing that she may not know or even accept the standard pricing on these items. The rich often became so by their own shrewd business deals; he had no basis to assume that she wasn't an owner of an esteemed corporation herself. She might try to work him down to a couple thousand for the lot of it - a poor countermove considering her earlier suggestions about selling the cane - or she might accept the price at face value with no concept of the real worth of money. Regardless of the outcome, he needed to temper his excitement.
But such a feat proved nigh insurmountable when he wanted to race back onto the floor and urge Vargas to break out the gin and tonics. He hardly noticed when she plucked the earrings from his grasp, and reacted noticeably late to his now-empty hand. While he could contain his excitement from spreading over his countenance, it reached his eyes regardless of his wishes. "Right. Of course." Memorizing the order proved no challenge; the customer already captured more than enough of his attention for him to commit the lot of it to memory. "And for the tea set, we have two in here. Did you want the Biltmore or the Franz?" If you say Franz then you better have me in for tea when I deliver all of this. I want to drink expensive beverages out of butterflies.
Asking a one-armed man to deliver all these unwieldy items is just asking for them to get broken. Better mobilize the labor force. Isaiah pulled a pen from his coat pocket and reclaimed one of the old legal pads that sat unused near the jewelry rack. On it he wrote each of the items. Next to the names, he wrote cost amounts and added them for a final dollar amount at the bottom. Isaiah circled the number gently. "This is my asking price for the sum total of the items. If you're looking at the Biltmore set, it's considerably cheaper. Since money isn't a problem, however, I'd suggest the Franz set. Far more class." And for an extra million dollars, you can buy my hand in marriage.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 10:15 am
Oh, there was his retail smile. Her smile morphed into a faint moue, and she went briefly back to considering the room. There were a couple additional small items of interest, but she'd wait until she knew how much pain her larger, more important purchases would leave her in. Jada shifted to rest her weight on one leg while the shopkeep reached for his notepad, and watched him write the items down. Her lips pursed, considering the items listed. "The Franz, of course. The Biltmore set is rather boring, and who is going to say no to the ability to drink tea out of china butterflies?" As he wrote, she gave him the names of the books she wanted, so he could more thoroughly tally. It was a bit more than she had expected to spend here, but she had the funds; especially as she was going to be dipping into the money that had been allocated for refurnishing the mansion. For the majority of her purchases, anyways. Leaning over, she began to pull out the books she had noted that she wanted, one hand carefully gloved to help protect the books, the other pulling out her selections. All in decent condition, she noted, nothing she'd have to have repaired soon, unless they were poorly handled. She'd need to make sure the cleaning staff knew how to properly handle these older tomes. Inferno, several books of poetry, Shakespeare, Paradise Lost, was that a first edition of 1984? She didn't care- the version in the library was newer, and already in poor condition. She'd set this one next to the signed copy of Brave New World for now. An assortment of odds and ends the twins might appreciate once they were old enough to not mutilate them- and to top it all off, Jada set the 'cheap signed copy' of Palahniuk's Haunted on top of the pile. 32 books neatly towered. "Add in the books, please," she told him, and pulled out her phone, hitting the speed dial for her account handler. "Hi," she told him, keeping an eye on the salesperson, "It's Jada. Oh, yes, Christmas is going to be wonderful." the man at the other end was cheerful, and god could he talk. "No, nothing like that today. I'm about to make a large purchase, and I don't want it flagged. No, I'm not buying another car. I promise, I'll put it on the credit card next time. Yes. I know, I'm sorry." the one side of the conversation was probably an irritant to him, if he was even listening. "No, I am at a store named Pawnography, - Pawn, P, A, W, N. Not Porn, you pay cash for that. Yes. Just make sure it goes through. No exact total yet, I'm still shopping. Thanks. Merry Christmas to you too. Bye." That done, it freed her to pace around the room, considering, before making her way back to him and peering at the tablet's original circled amount critically. Well, they were still going to be in the one comma area, at least. "You're going to give me a discount on that, aren't you?" she asked him, giving him a sweet little smile.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 11:54 am
"Porcelain butterflies it is." She had taste enough to know the obvious superiority in drinking out of butterflies. He preferred them himself, but found no means of worming them into his home decor without some immense clashing. Plus, he felt certain that Gwen would steal them and he wouldn't see single dollar for what he paid in their acquisition. So it goes, he figured gently.
Isaiah slipped his phone from his pocket and called up the inventory screen. He doubted she would mind the intrusion; if she did, he could explain easily that they kept a digital inventory system for ease of searching and tracking. Vargas programmed well enough to create a rudimentary shipping program for some of the items, including their generalized dimensions and cost of parcel shipping. He even added in his own truck's max capacity and dimensions for personal deliveries. After tracking down the serial numbers for each item, he highlighted them in an itemized list to determine whether the lot of it would fit in Vargas' pickup. So far, his customer remained within the space budget, but the margin between her purchases and max capacity slimmed quickly. He wondered if they might need to rent a U-Haul.
'Add in the books, please.' Isaiah looked up at the command, and the spines of over two dozen books now faced him. He snorted to himself, turned his head as he grinned. "You're making it very hard to stay professional in my own shop." She placed a call, however, and Isaiah wrote on in silence. Some books she picked were expensive, though most remained on the lower range of her existing prices. Briefly he wondered if he could talk her out of taking his Tulips & Chimneys copy. He rather liked E. E. Cummings, if for his name alone.
At last, Isaiah ballparked the price for the 32 books and circled a new number on the back of the page. More math made it into the margins of the paper. Afterward, he scratched the lot of it out and wrote a new number.
"I can give you ten percent for admitting that I'm charming. Any more than that and you'll have to name your own price." Isaiah retired the pen to the page and stepped back in case she felt like bargaining further. He left dollar signs off of his work, which left the arithmetic looking more like a simple math problem than a conversation in the world's most powerful language.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 1:04 pm
You're making it very hard to stay professional in my own shop. Jada laughed, and gave a shrug. "I live to be a problem," she teased him, and slid her attention away. That would do it, for a first run. He was working something out on his cell phone when she was done speaking to her account manager, and so she felt a little bit better about her own phone call. Even though hers had been for his benefit, and to spare all the embarrassment of a declined debit charge. It could have something to do with the work that he was doing, or he could be telling his SO to dress up for a really nice dinner; she couldn't tell. She pulled her hair out of the braid as she made her way back towards him, since she wouldn't be wandering around or need to worry about it knocking anything over. Drawing close, she peered at his numbers, and the new circled total that indicated the discount. It wasn't bad, she could manage it. "If I got ten percent off for calling you charming, how much do I get off if I bat my eyes and flirt a little?" She was ready to pay the discounted amount now, but it never hurt to try. Especially as the whole reason she wanted him coming over was so that she could take him around the mansion, point out what she needed, and possibly enlist his aid in procuring the appropriate items. She supposed that would count as interest. But there was some good taste back in here, probably from strokes of luck, but also probably from a general eye of what would sell. It might not be he who made the purchases, but it wasn't the high little cashier, and somehow she doubted it had all been the gentleman by the pop culture selections.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 11:36 pm
Isaiah drew in a breath. He suppressed his initial answer to her inquiry carefully. "While being professional, I would say that batting your eyes at me and flirting a little won't get you far monetarily. Try that with my general manager, however, and you might be pleasantly surprised." And if we're suspending the song and dance about professionalism and social mores and general standards, I'd offer a free organic facial. Guaranteed happy ending, of course. "He's always had a weakness for a pretty face."
Isaiah called up his phone app once more and began marking the 32 books she picked, which proved a longer process against the sum total of books kept in storage. He leaned against the back of one of the racks while he worked, and hazel darted toward the stack frequently to check titles. Seldom did he own multiple copies of the same book; Alighieri's Inferno proved to be the only entry with two tags. He could not, however, delineate between the two tags. Who even entered these? Great, I've got two copies here with zero differentiating descriptors. Someone's getting fired.
As he spoke, he trained his eyes on the cell phone manifest. "If you're satisfied with that price, though, I can take you back up front. Otherwise I was thinking about keeping you prisoner back here until you acquiesced to my demands." He kept his tone uniquely dry, if only to enunciate the sarcasm behind his statement.
"Are you ready?" He asked at last, and looked her in the eyes. Brows arched lightly in the interrogative.
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Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:05 am
She gave a soft, faux-dramatic sigh as her counter-offer for some casual flirtation went unrewarded. Oh well, her doe eyes couldn't work on everybody. "Too bad we're being professional," she told him wryly, "I'm sure the non-PC version of that was a lot more inventive. As for your manager, I may have to try that if I come back for round two. Unfortunately, as you pointed out," her lips curved with humor, "I don't really have hours to spend trying to flirt, with Christmas breathing down my neck." Leaning over to collect her coat and her purse, Jada slung them over her arm. "You can take me when you're ready," she said with a crooked smile, "Unless you have some really fun demands." which, gauging by his tone, they would consist of making her wait until he'd finished inventory, or Pokemon, or whatever he was doing on his phone. "Can you have someone box the books? You don't need to include those in the delivery, I'll take them with me." His threaded brows arched, and she quirked her own in reply. "I'm always ready," she said easily, and made her way to the door, pulling it open to lead the way into the store. From here it would be business- payment (which would be debit), delivery date (as soon as possible), or other such minutiae. A shame she'd rather struck out on the flirting side of things, but couldn't win them all. And 10% off wasn't bad. "Shame," she told him idly as they walked to the front, "We didn't even talk about interest."
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Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:22 pm
"Oh, you're not wrong there," Ice muttered to himself. "The non-PC version was a lot more fun, too." Her comments on choosing Vargas for round two went well-heeded as a challenge, and Isaiah smiled cryptically to its presentation. No, his longstanding competition with his GM would reach its end that night, and if Vargas thought he could woo her into additional exorbitant sales, Isaiah would be sure to remind him of his wedding vows.
Isaiah paused just before she reached the door. "If you're really interested in that non-PC version, I lock up at ten-thirty." That, he decided, marked the end of their more personal interactions while in the store. Business proceeded henceforth, and Isaiah ducked out of the storeroom shortly before answering her later question. "Yes, I'll have Shawn box the lot of it." A quick text informed one of his floor workers. Another few navigations through his inventory system and the printer in his office started up, clunking to life with a whir of its gears. "He'll pack them into the car for you, too. Don't let him try to convince you to tip him; he gets paid enough for these tasks."
Briskly he swept into his office, only a short hallway away from the jewelry counter. Isaiah ducked in for little more than a few seconds before he returned with a still-warm list of purchases on hand. Printed dollar amounts compensated expertly for his utter lack of penmanship, and Isaiah was glad for it; he disliked the potential assumptions stemming from his shitty writing.
"These transactions I can run as debit or cash. While the actual dollar amount will show up on your bank statements, it'll post as a miscellaneous parcel purchase at a Square vendor number. Even if you're not the only one looking at your bank statements, no one's going to know what you got them or where. Now…" Isaiah turned the page over, where the double-printed page displayed a fine agreement. "The lot of this just states that any purchases made under the stipulations for certificates of authenticity were either already supplied - which they were not - or will be delivered within two weeks of the purchase. Failure to deliver may result in a full refund and return of the item at the buyer's behest." He signed the bottom of the page in a faltering script. "I'll try to get them to you tomorrow."
After logging into one of the registers, Isaiah entered the previously-denoted price for the sum total of goods. Briefly he spared a glance at Vargas across the floor, then looked to his register business with a low chuckle. "If you don't mind, there's an address form at the bottom of the invoice that needs filling out. Please add your phone number to the bottom."
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Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:58 pm
He muttered something low, and she didn't quite catch it; it only made her smile grow a bit. "I am interested," she told him, "But unfortunately, 10:30 wouldn't work for me. I'll leave you my phone number, though." for business, of course, but she hoped the invitation was clear enough. She made her way to the jewelry counter while the salesman- she hadn't even gotten his name, and here she was flirting- ducked through to his office. It was pretty, but her eyes kept catching on things on the other side of the store as well, and she strolled over there curiously, looking over some of the items there. s**t, she should have come over here for Zora- there were enough adorably nerdy collectibles that she could probably still make her sister a happy woman, and not just one with some nifty earrings and a gorgeous jewelry box. The worker she assumed to be 'Shawn' had vanished into the back room, and Jada wandered the floors, deeply considering picking up a few other odds and ends, the jacket tucked close over her arm so she wouldn't knock anyone into something. There were a few things on the pop culture wall that gave her pause, chewing on her painted lower lip thoughtfully. It was the pretty salesman's return that distracted any other one from being able to swoop in and make a sale- the longing glance she turned back to the pop culture wall did not, however, mean all chances were lost just because she walked away. "It will have to be debit," she told him with a wry smile, pulling out the black and gold debit card and sliding it over to him. Her eyes scanned over the paperwork for any legalese he might have neglected to verbally include, picking it apart and considering. "If you can't have them to me tomorrow, let me know when they are available, and I can come collect them, unless you just want to come over again and join me in using these butterflies." Her slanted script filled in the address line quickly; the phone number was written down, and then circled. "You can reach me there any time. My phone's on all the time."
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Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2017 9:55 am
"Debit it is." Isaiah pressed the 'charge' button on the corner of the register and brought the attacheddebit pad out from behind the register's bulky form. He ran the card himself down the magnetized scanner, and handed it back to her. A quick turn of the debit pad toward her intimated the need for a PIN. Of course, she knew all the rules to purchase payments - he need not explain anything to her.
Shawn did not dally in the back room as Isaiah expected. The man emerged, likely cell phone untouched, with the three boxes of books stacked atop one another on a hand truck. The tan young man fought quite the crowd in trying to extract said books to the outer area of the store, as 'excuse me's littered the floor, unused. People regarded him with contempt as they shuffled away and into each other. The secondary embarrassment alone urged Isaiah to pause and watch. At last, though, the young man reached the door and opened the way with his hip, pulling the hand truck behind him. Isaiah was certain he could spot the car belonging to their customer - a Lexus or Lambourghini or Porshe typically stood out against the span of mediocre cars parked in front of his business.
"Oh, I'll have them to you tomorrow, but I won't turn down tea." At least, he assumed that was her offer - he knew very little of the girl's habits. Perhaps she intended to drink tequila out of them, or use them as daily dishware in a house full of toddlers. Perhaps her last set fell to the same fate.
Actually, he decided, imagining that only gave seller's grief.
You can reach me there any time, she says. Any time, like I could just ring her in the middle of the night and ask her to a club. Wouldn't that be a shocking surprise? "Oh, we won't interrupt you unless it's an emergency." The purchase processed, and Isaiah pulled the paper from the receipt printer. Briefly he made a mental note of upgrading to a better register system, for these large purchases looked laughable against mediocre receipt paper. Really, he needed to dig himself out of the eighties and move onto using tablets for processing. Still, he handed her back the receipt with what dignity he could and hoped she thought not over the same desperate contrast.
"Merry Christmas, Jada Chamberlyn," he added with the best smile he managed since dentures.infinities and fin here too so deal w/ it
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