Selling Kirby Vacuum Cleaners

While cruising Facebook this morning, I ran across this little exchange:

 This reminded me of a couple of stories involving Kirby Vacuum Cleaners which some may find amusing.

Let me begin by saying that the Kirby is a fine, American made machine.  My father owned several which were purchased mostly at estate sales or through a fellow in Chillicothe, Ohio who turned his garage into a Kirby Vacuum shop of sorts.  When dad expired, my mother gave away all but one of the Kirbys to my sisters, electing to use a Sears Kenmore machine instead.

•  We get these Kirby vacuum sales people around here all the time.... most of them are legit, but annoying. I once fell for the free demo - never again. It took forever to get the gal to leave and she was dropped off so when I finally got her out of my house, she still stayed at the edge of the street waiting to get picked up by someone else.

  13 minutes ago · Like
• So much for disclosure.

  Anyhoo, while I was working in Parkersburg, West Virginia, I did a Sunday morning gig running the "God Squad" at one of the local radio stations.  One show was called "The Little White Church" and was run by a fellow who fed the show directly to the radio station from a studio in his hbme.  His show was apparently about Jesus wanting money - The Lord's income being supplemented by selling Kirbys door to door Mondays through Saturdays.  One of the salespeople at that radio station told us that he used to sell vacuums door to door with the fellow from the "Little White Church".  One day, after a week of coming up empty-handed, the two dispirited salespeople were hungry.  It was lunchtime and they were near the Post Office.  "Let's see what the "Little White Church" has for us today," the owner of the radio show suggested.  The men went to the Post office and pulled out a fist full of envelopes containing enough cash for them to have the best lunch Parkersburg, West Virginia had to offer!

  
  

  For a while I worked for an appliance retailer who invited representatives from the local high-interest loan companies to come in to offer credit to the retailer's customers.  One rep, a fellow I knew from High School, told me about going out to a house in Pike County where he needed to go out to repossess a Kirby.  He drove several miles out in the country, ending up on a dirt road leading to the house.  Something wasn't quite right as far as he could tell - he just couldn't put his finger on it.  He gets to the door, and the owner comes out, followed by chickens!  The house had dirt floors!!  It was then when he realized what had bothered him on the way out to the house.  THERE WAS NO ELECTRICITY!!!  None.  Nada.  Zilch.  He had no problems getting the vacuum back (still literally in the box).  Somewhere there's a Kirby salesman who would probably do very well selling air conditioners to Eskimos.

  
  

  Be Seeing You!

  
  

  bdharrell