Selling Fear

Boomer, whose only fear is not getting fed.

BigDumbDog is afraid of the water hose.

I wish I could tell you that last night went so much smoother than Monday, but it didn't. I really hate nights where I spend all my time yelling, because I'm being completely ignored when I talk. Morgan was even being naughty as he decided to dump half a bottle of pre-depilatory cleanser (expensive stuff that I bought with Birthday money last year) on the coffee table.

It wasn't completely the kids bugging me. We were standing outside for a bit while I watered the front garden, and my plants in the planters when a salesman walked up.

Cucumbers, green onions, and a jalpeno plant (in the middle of the onions).

My gift for Mother's Day from my Mom and Dad, I chose the John Deere Yellow, Dana helped me paint it. Those are tomatoes up on the steps. Never mind the weed in the bottom right corner.

Not one of you commented on my Swingtown post, so either you don't watch it, or are afraid to admit it. Well last week's episode was about finding your authentic self. When Rodger asks his boss for more money, he's fired. He tells his wife's best friend, Susan, that he's glad. You see he was an insurance salesman and he tells her that successful insurance salesman need to scare people to get them to buy products. They sell fear.

Last night we had an alarm salesman. Of course they aren't selling the alarm. They are giving the alarm away, plus the installation and warranty. You just have to pay $45 a month to have it hooked up and display a sign in your yard. We listened to his spiel and pointed out that our security system was in the house. Come in and threaten, you'll meet a bullet. Then he pointed out to Dana that of course Dana could take care of himself, but what about when he wasn't around. A system would be good for protecting the wife and kids, or the house when no one was home. Dana's answer? My wife's a darn good shot, she can take care of herself!

Salesman is figuring out that this isn't going quite how he planned. He points out that it's your sense of security that feels violated, and that an alarm will provide a deterrent. And it raises the value of your home! Ummm... my dog is a deterrent, and the fact that we have so many close neighbors that are home during the day. Thanks, but no! He left fairly quickly, having been beat. I didn't even point out to him, but did to Dana, that we could just put up some alarm stickers in the window if we wanted people to think there was an alarm. Also my co-worker installed the alarm at our office for far less, and there are no maintenance fees on that.

Really the issue is, I don't like being sold fear. Why should we pay for an alarm to go off when someone breaks in? Someone has to break in first, and that's why we have the required homeowner's insurance. Speaking of insurance, why should we pay huge amounts of money for a life insurance policy that will likely never pay out? All that money would be better put into a CD and earning interest. Washington requires liability on all autos and trucks. And we have opted for un-insured motorist coverage, because the number of un-insured motorists here in our city is huge! The more Dana and I talk about this, the more we are considering insurance changes. A higher deductible is something we are definitely discussing (for the home). The money saved will help meet that extra upfront cost if, big IF, it is needed. I'm really seeing insurance like playing the lotto, except instead of the big IF being good, the big IF is the worst case scenario. Do you really want to spend your life banking on the worst case scenario? The hardest part? Telling our insurance agent that we are switching companies.