How not to sell me furniture

Chris and I are in the market for a glider--possible recliner--for the nursery, and we're also in the market for a possible pull-out couch for the third "bed" room. 

We've visited several local furniture stores, and the story from Sunday is exactly how not to sell me furniture. 

We go into the store, and are immediately greeted by a friendly, laid back guy who said he would let us look around and that we could come to him if we had questions. We did like several of the pieces we saw, so we sought him out to ask him some questions. 

First, we asked him if a glider he had came in leather. Side note: I really want a brightly colored, like green or orange, glider--possibly recliner--for the nursery. In my head it would be perfect!

I told the guy this was what I really wanted, and we ask if the glider that we liked could be ordered in leather. 

"No, gliders don't come in leather," he says. "Men usually like leather, and women usually like gliders, so those two things don't go together." And he bumped his fists together for emphasis. 

First error: He just told me what I wanted didn't exist and that it was abnormal I would want that. 

Next, he showed us all the fabrics that the glider did come in. I told him we really wanted a leather or maybe a mirco-suede/fiber because we had a cat who might like a new scratching post. 

His response, "Isn't it funny how we buy things for our home to make our animals happy?"

Ummm, thanks judgmental, non-animal owner.

At this point, I was done trying to purchase a glider from him. 

Chris piped up at this point and asked about a pull-out couch. I think Chris knew the cat comment might elicit a non-friendly response from me. 

So we moved on to the pull-out couch question. 

Dude's response (See how he is now "Dude" in my mind?), "Do you really need a pull-out couch? I usually steer people away from them when building a room." 

I just told you we wanted a pull-out couch. 

We gave no response, and he countered with, "I have one couch that I could custom order for you with a pullout frame." 

We agreed to walk to the other end of the store to see this couch. It was huge! Very pretty, but four cushions long. I said, "Oh wow. This is much too big for our room. We really just need a standard sized pull-out couch." 

Dude's response, "This is a loveseat, so you won't find anything smaller."

I stare back at him about to stop this nonsense in its track. 

Chris breaks in and says, "We really need that size," pointing to what most people would consider a large loveseat. 

"That's a chair and a half, and would never come in a pull-out." 

Before we visited the store we were currently in, we had been in another store that had an "apartment pullout," which was the same size as the "large loveseat" we were staring out. I began to point this out and realized there was no point. 

I quickly thanked him for his help--not really--and said we would keep looking. 

In summary, the way not to sell me furniture is to tell me what I want is abnormal for my gender, that I shouldn't love or consider my beloved animal, then that I don't need what I want and finally that what I want doesn't exist even though I just saw it. 

Thanks, Dude.