Xeros
Jun 23rd, 2012, 10:27 PM
So today while filling up my car, this guy in a white Buick Enclave drives up sporting the thickest Italian accent I've ever heard. He claims he's lost and needs to get to the airport. No problem, I whip out a map and give him directions to get there. I didn't think much because he had a boarding pass in hand with an Italian passport. I didn't give it much thought at the time, but in writing this, I vaguely remember that while the boarding time he claims was accurate, the date was June 21.
We get to chit chatting and he tells me he's a manager with Empirio Armani and that he's got some jackets from a design conference for the upcoming fashion season. Being a chubby guy he says it doesn't fit him and that he'll give them to me for a deal. At this point I remember reading about back of the van A/V equipment with a similar pitch, so I was a bit suspicious but wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.
He continues by saying if he brings them back to Italy he'll have to pay tax and he doesn't want to do that, (inside my head I was thinking, 'You know, given the state of your country, paying tax wouldn't be too bad at this point...'). I ask him if they are Armani jackets? He confirms they are, so trying to be helpful I said to him it would easy for him to avoid tax by just claiming them as product samples from your job. Since it wouldn't be hard to prove you were a manager from Armani and you did just come from a design conference, custom agents all around the world know that product samples are allowed without tax.
Anyway, my helpfulness ended his sales pitch when I finished with, "Don't you normally have product samples for this type of business?".
I got back into my car and thought about that encounter and sure enough, Google says I'm not the first to see this... probably won't be the last.
We get to chit chatting and he tells me he's a manager with Empirio Armani and that he's got some jackets from a design conference for the upcoming fashion season. Being a chubby guy he says it doesn't fit him and that he'll give them to me for a deal. At this point I remember reading about back of the van A/V equipment with a similar pitch, so I was a bit suspicious but wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.
He continues by saying if he brings them back to Italy he'll have to pay tax and he doesn't want to do that, (inside my head I was thinking, 'You know, given the state of your country, paying tax wouldn't be too bad at this point...'). I ask him if they are Armani jackets? He confirms they are, so trying to be helpful I said to him it would easy for him to avoid tax by just claiming them as product samples from your job. Since it wouldn't be hard to prove you were a manager from Armani and you did just come from a design conference, custom agents all around the world know that product samples are allowed without tax.
Anyway, my helpfulness ended his sales pitch when I finished with, "Don't you normally have product samples for this type of business?".
I got back into my car and thought about that encounter and sure enough, Google says I'm not the first to see this... probably won't be the last.