Last week I encouraged attending local farm shows.
However, like the side effect warnings in pharmaceutical commercials, I should have warned you about the pitchmen.
These guys make the most professional TV infomercial look like amateur hour.
I should know. My workshop has more than a few of the handiest, slickest, most useful, all-around ideal “whiz-bangs” ever devised to make my day easier, more effective, more fun and more productive.
I can cut metal without a torch, join metals without a welder and sharpen/grind/burnish metal with just my power drill. In short, I am a sucker for a good pitch.
It isn’t that I can’t resist these guys. It’s just that I really enjoy watching them work the crowd and practice their craft.
The good pitchman or woman makes those of us watching sure that we too could perform this bit of magic. Just buy the product and what a difference it will make in our lives.
The reality hits when we get home with the whiz-bang and it doesn’t work quite as well or as easily as at the show.
Of course, it doesn’t help that it may sit on the workbench or on a shelf for a few months before we give it a try. The fact is that if the whiz-bang worked like it did at the show, we would find it in every hardware store or farm supply store we entered.
While it may be a very good whiz-bang, it may not be everything it was cracked up to be.
So sit back and enjoy the show. Watch the pitchman do his thing. Just beware.
When you least expect it, he may grab your attention. Before you know it, like me, you will be the proud owner of the handiest, slickest, most useful whiz-bang you’ve ever seen.