The Rug Merchant
A few days ago, I got a call from a guy who called himself Tobin. He asked if I remembered him from when we were in Turkey and had bought rugs from him. It seems he is here in Southern California with a truck full of rugs (actually, I have learned that it’s three containers full from which he refills his rugs). He wanted to come over and show us his wares and sell us some rugs. I told him I had to discuss the matter with my wife but that he should call back in a few days. Kim reminded me that it was Morocco where we had purchased rugs and that we hadn’t bought any in Turkey, at least not during the two visits there where she accompanied me. What we figured out was that we went to a great ceramics store in Istanbul during our last visit and had bought a very impressive plate that adorns our living room wall. We realized that had to be the source of Tobin’s finding his way to us. That is less about his knowing my number, that he could have gotten from any number of places in Turkey where I left my calling card behind. But that business card does not have my home address and it had to have been our last trip to Turkey in October, 2019 (for a motorcycle ride around the country) or anything I would have given someone who took my AMEX card would have had my NYC address since it was only during that last trip that I was aware that I would be moving full-time to California.
So, Tobin did call back and we had the opportunity to consider whether we wanted him to come by, which we did. We have been dealing with Betty’s incontinence and bad stomach for a year now and that combined with Cecil’s contribution to the carpet has made us decide that the smart play for us is to replace the carpeting in the Master Bedroom and the guest bedrooms with the same sort of synthetic luxury vinyl that looks like barn wood that we have used in the rest of the house. This move will leave the entire house done in vinyl except for the bathrooms, which are stone tile, and the Master Closet, which we will keep carpeted. That means that we are suddenly in the market for some area rugs. That is a conclusion we reached just within the last week, before ever hearing from Tobin. What are the chances?
Kim and I both love the Middle East. Few trips have intrigued us more than our trips to Turkey, Morocco and Israel. One of the places we want to travel to is Egypt (I was last there fifty years ago). I traveled over 200 business days during my career in the Arab Middle East. The common element in all Middle Eastern cultures, whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish is that there are always rug merchants. A rug merchant is more of a generalized term to mean a person of commerce who inherently understand the art of buying low and selling high. He is the quintessential business person. It goes one step further. In professional markets, the bid/offer spread is very tight and it is considered inappropriate and unprofessional to widen the bid/offer beyond a certain point. A rug merchant does not consider such things because he operates in a very inefficient market and couldn’t give a damn about professionalism. He only cares about making money and considers the right thing to do to be to charge for his rugs whatever the market will bear.
During Tobin’s visit today he had enough rugs in his truck to carpet an entire neighborhood. We showed him our Master Bedroom, our worn Moroccan rug in the laundry room hallway, our guest room hallway and our guest rooms. We made sure to tell him that our Indian rug that was in our Master would go to one of the guest rooms. He picked a perfect matching rug for the Master and the hallway runner. He rattled off something about the tax laws in Turkey and the U.S. that had to do with the number of rugs sold to an individual. Quite frankly, it all sounded like hogwash geared to both sell more rugs and to give him the ability to ratchet down prices without looking like he was cutting prices (something rug merchants never like to be seen to do since it becomes a very slippery slope). That left the guest rooms for consideration and I chose to feign fatigue and said that they should take the samples in to see how they all felt. We both loved the choice for the Master and so I asked the price. I referenced the online website for a big Turkish rug seller in order to get price ranges, the closest thing I could get to some sense of market value. I think we all know there are rugs and there are rugs and I certainly know next to nothing about good rugs and cheap rugs. What I did learn was that he quoted a price that was, coincidentally, the top of the range on that website for Turkish rugs of that size. That suddenly made the tax comments make sense since he needed to gauge my willingness to spend what he was hoping to sell the rugs for.
Kim didn’t like the three smaller rugs chosen for the guest room, which I think was a help to my negotiating posture. Not so much because it showed that we would not just buy anything, but because Tobin ended up putting in a very nice silk rug that Kim liked, but that was vastly outside the range that I was willing to spend. The quick no on something that was unreasonably expensive was a clear signal to Tobin about the depth of our wallet for rugs this day. We had selected a 9×12 for the Master, a 9’ runner for the laundry room hall, and a 14’ runner for the guest wing hall. Tobin began by locking those in. We spent a bunch of time getting the Master rug placed under the bed such that it would be a major effort to walk away from it. As for the two runners, Tobin cut the non-slip pads for them making it very hard for us to turn them back. I was well aware of this tactic and was fine with it. He pulled out several other rugs for us to consider for the guest rooms and even the dining room and living room despite my having said that we had no need in either of those two rooms. That went nowhere, but what did work was that he managed to show Kim a small kitchen rug which she liked and wanted.
One last tactic that Tobin had up his sleeve was to say that he would gladly bring us a pad for the Master rug once we had replaced the flooring. He also suggested that when he came back he would show us something that would fit our budget for the guest room. I guess he hated to lose that possible sale since he figured by then that he had hooked a live one in us. When we got down to the brass tacks of paying the bill, he started with the big total and then brought it down by 18%, which is the tax saving percentage he had previously quoted. I sensed that he gauged my reaction to that number, paused and then gave me yet again a lower number by the amount of some tax or other if I broke the payment up in three checks to different individuals. That was a great tactic because it hurts a lot less to write three smaller checks than one large one. It may also be to bring the numbers down under the money laundering threshold.
I have the greatest respect for the rug merchant. He made us love his wares, he sold us more than we indended to buy, and he somehow strangely made me feel OK about getting value for my money. What else could I ask for?