The Bunk Bed

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Bunk Beds – Weighing the Difference 

When I managed a furniture store at the Great Northern Mall, I prepared to open the store every morning at 10 a.m. So I was usually there around nine or earlier.  The store was a corner location, so there were gates on two sides of the corner.   

One morning a husband and wife arrived outside the store about 20 minutes or more before 10 a.m.  The look on their faces was hard for me to decipher.  Were they angry, angry at each other, angry at our business?  What did the look on their faces mean? 

I opened the store early, and they thanked me. 

I am sure they had to get to work, but they needed to come to the store for some reason. 

They came to purchase a bunk bed.  I can’t remember who spoke first, but I think it was the wife.   They wanted me to know that they bought a less expensive bunk bed, and for $200.00 difference, they almost lost their Son last night. 

Which was shocking; they had the money.  But what they did not have was an understanding of design and construction.  They probably thought, how can there be much difference in bunk beds? 

So they purchased a bunk bed with a railing that didn’t go all the way across the top bunk.  The child moved around a lot during the night.  About 2 a.m., their Son fell out of the top bunk and got stuck in the railing.  He was hanged from the top bunk. 

They then described what they saw and talked about the What’s??  What if we had not heard him?????   

Thank God they did. 

They were distraught.  I was fighting back the tears.   

I can hear one of them say, for $200.00 difference, we almost lost our Son last night. 

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The Back Story  

This is a good life story and sales story.   

Every day we make decisions on things we know little to nothing about.  We weigh the differences and narrow it down to two thoughts, two decisions, two of anything.  The two things we consider in our lives might be the difference between life and death: a family and no family.   

Poorly constructed bunk beds.  Don’t make that mistake.  Because I have been in the furniture business, I look at furniture differently.  I see things that other people would not know if they had not been in the industry.   

I make a lot of decisions differently because of this story. For example, I often consider the cost difference in anything I am getting ready to do or purchase: short-term and Long term. 

I don’t know which salesperson initially talked with this family.  But it probably would not have mattered.  Their goal was to save a few bucks, not realizing the actual cost of saving a few bucks. 

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A Trundle, Foam Mattress, and a Cubbie