Not So Bad Choices

Everyday Epiphany: Bad choices are better than worse choices.

While minding my own business (which was drinking a Belgium beer on my front porch), Louis, a door-to-door salesperson for ATT, approached me. Decked out in a company monogramed golf shirt accessorized with a lanyarded plastic nametag, he introduced himself. After agreeing about the evening’s pleasantness and reporting that my day had gone well, he unsurprisingly steered the topic to ATT.

The conversation went something like this:

Louis the door-to-door ATT salesperson: So, who do you have for cable?

Me: Xfinity.

Louis the door-to-door ATT salesperson: How much are you paying?

Me: About 7 bazillion a month

(I said this in a savvy tone because through shrewd wheeling-dealing I’ve been able to keep it under 8 bazillion.)

Louis the door-to-door ATT salesperson: Seven bazillion a month! With an ATT bundle, I can get that down to four bazillion!

(From his astounded pitch, I detected that my savvy didn’t impress.)

Me: I rounded up. It’s closer to 6.98 bazillion and I don’t bundle. My cable is Xfinity, ATT for internet, and for phone I’m with T-Mobile.

(Although resistant to door-to-door salespeople, I could use an extra 2.98 bazillion a month. Maybe, I’d dine out every other week.)

Louis the door-to-door ATT salesperson: You don’t bundle!

(From his tone I surmised that not bundling indicated a lapse in judgement akin to not ever flossing or believing everything politicians said.)

Me: With T-Mobile I have unlimited data overseas meaning that I have a shot at finding my BNB in Dubrovnik next spring.

(With unlimited Google map time and asking complete strangers, who mostly didn’t understand me, for directions, I found the hotel in Medieval Seville before destroying my suitcase wheels on cobblestone streets. Cobblestone streets were part of the charm of Medieval Seville.)

Louis the door-to-door ATT salesperson: If you replace your SIM card at your destination and (blah, blah, insert technical terms here), you’ll save money.

(And if I climbed onto the roof to replace the gutters instead of hiring a “gutter guy” to do it, I’d also save money. The possibility of me successfully completing a single-handed DIY gutter replacement outweighed the chances of me successfully locating and replacing a SIM card in Dubrovnik. I’m NOT a techie.)

Me: By any chance do you do any gutter work? On the side, maybe?

(When I paid cash for jobs done on the side, I saved money – not 2.98 bazillion, but close).

Louis the door-to-door ATT salesperson: Would you consider switching your cable to ATT?

(He ignored my question.)

Me: You seem like a smart fellow. I bet if you watched a few YouTube videos, you’d be great at gutter repair.

(I ignored his question.)

Louis the door-to-door ATT salesperson: You not bundling is a bad choice.

(I thought of syncing new remote controls, replacing boxes on each TV, exchanging SIM cards in Croatia, and the complaints I’ve heard about ATT exorbitantly increasing prices after their special deals expired.)

Me: Maybe, and you not learning how to repair gutters is also a bad choice.

I finished my Belgium beer content that I kept my unbundled monthly costs under 8 bazillion dollars. 

Louis the door-to-door ATT salesperson proceeded to the neighbor’s home. He glanced back at my home perhaps surveying the gutters.  

There were bad choices and there were worse choices. This bad choice wasn’t all that bad. It’s not like I didn’t ever floss or believed everything politicians said.