The guy overplays his sales pitch and backs himself into a corner when the customer maliciously complies with his “no binoculars without insurance” offer.

Business will always be there. business, and in a dog-eat-dog world, a salesperson will always do what they can to make a sale. This may not be the most ethical approach – one that pushes the boundaries of human decency – but, Who cares, screw it, it gets the job done.

But being overconfident and persistent does not mean success. That increases the success rate (or whatever other basic business term you want to use here), but that doesn’t make it cliché.

Especially if the client gets hold of their business tactics and takes it quite literally on that over-the-top sales pitch. Through malicious compliance.

More information: Reddit

Salespeople can be tough on customers, but customers can be tough on them, and just have to take their words literally.

Image credit: Macho (not original picture)

So, years ago, this Redditor managed to snag some tickets to a Formula 1 racing event at Silverstone, a circuit racing track in England. Since the track is large, and can be difficult to see live, the OP decided to get some binoculars to upgrade and simplify the viewing experience.

One trip to the local optical retailer later, the OP was greeted and served by a lovely sales lady. Not only was she helpful in picking out the right pair of binoculars for the nice gentleman, but she also seemed genuinely excited about the race. Overall, a pleasant shopping experience.

A Redditor shared a story of how they turned the words of an arrogant binocular salesman against them with malicious compliance.

Image credit: u/DanceLikeItsOuchy

Image credit: Chase Elliott Clark (not the original photo)

Well, actually, no purchase was made due to any inconvenience. About yes tall and one with a lot of words in his mouth.. Yes, enter another salesperson, a guy who effectively pushed the nice saleslady off the hook and unpleasantly entered the conversation and started the process of reselling the product. Except he did a lot worse.

Think Cutting the client off and trying to sell the same binoculars that the client had already discounted with the nice sales lady in the previous conversation. kind of bad.

The OP was starting to get a little annoyed at this point. Not only was the sales guy disrespecting his co-worker, pushing him away and calling him “just a trainee,” he was making an already stereotypically awkward sales process even more difficult. was that he was not only trying to upsell the OP with better binoculars, but selling as well. with insurance.

Long story short, the OP needed binoculars to see the easy F1, but the nice saleslady was pushed aside by an arrogant jerk and ruined it for everyone.

Image credit: u/DanceLikeItsOuchy

“At this point, I really just want to get out of the shop, but I suffer from the occasional debilitation of being English, and this kind of embarrassment is too much to bear. Instead, I’ll buy them, and go home, fantasizing about all the cool things I should have said,” opined the OP.

But here’s where salespeople stumble. After the OP agreed to expensive binoculars to fix the problem, the salesman suggested insurance. It was a number from the OP, but the salesman couldn’t take that for an answer and persuasion mode kicked in. “They are very fragile. […]. You probably shouldn’t buy them without insurance.

Click Malicious compliance. OP agreed. The salesperson, without truly understanding what kind of Jedi mind trick has been played, runs off to sort out the paperwork and comes back, asking for the OP’s name to finalize the deal. Just slapping a Well, actually, I wasn’t agreeing to the insurance, I was agreeing to the delicacy, I’d probably break them because I’m butterfingered..

The sales guy ends up using his own arguments against himself — “You probably shouldn’t buy them without insurance” — to lose the sale.

Image credit: u/DanceLikeItsOuchy

Image credit: Colin (not the original photo)

The sales bro then stumbled, started backtracking on other telescopes that were actually good for the OP, but it was too late. They’re not as good as those fragile ones, right? He politely thanked them for their time, and left.

For context, LinkedIn article by John SimbertInterviewing author Cian McLoughlin, explains that the best salesperson is the one who appears humble and unbiased. This means they listen well, and they are willing to teach and challenge the client.

McLoughlin also notes that any salesperson who brings adaptability, perspective and cultural fit to the table will be able to win customers. The bottom line is that great salespeople are defined by great storytelling—war stories, anecdotes, case studies, all work well to drive a sale home.

People online had a good laugh, but also shared their own stories in the comments.

But enough about that. More about the response from people which was very positive. For the most part, there was light-hearted banter and commentary about this “weak condition of being English” and how a review should have remained for the business.

Others expressed more serious concerns for the pretty sales lady — how she has to deal with her co-worker’s arrogance on a daily basis — and some shared similar stories. with varying degrees of malicious compliance.

Regardless, the post drew quite a crowd as over 17,000 people upvoted the post (with a 97% positive rating), 700 comments, and a handful of Reddit awards. You can view the post in context. Here.

But before you go, share your terrible salesperson stories and how. Made a fool of Up in the comment section below!