Parking Lot Peddlers

This story is from my younger days (around 7 years old). Most of you don't know, but I grew up in Oakland, CA on East 14th Street which was a mostly Hispanic neighborhood. I have great memories of growing up there. It isn't necessarily the best neighborhood, but it was home for a time. Anyone who has grown up in "the ghetto" has a good idea of what it was like growing up in Oakland.


One day, my family and I were out driving. There were always "sidewalk salesmen" on almost every corner. My family had bought many items from various sidewalk salesmen throughout the years (my favorite item was a Mickey Mouse doll that read books to me). On this trip we pulled over onto some parking lot (I think it was a Jack-in-the-Box). These two guys were selling various electronic equipment. When we arrived they were in the middle of selling an item to another "customer." My father (my biological father, Albert, not the dad I now have) was waiting for them to finish with this customer. I don't remember hearing what they said. As a kid most adult conversation was background noise and this incident was no different. I do, however, remember that one of these two "salesmen" snatched the money out of their prospective customer's hands. As the customer was negotiating and counting his money one of these guys just snatched the money right out the guys hands. It quickly escalated to the point where there was almost a fight. The second sales man convinced the "snatching salesman" to give back the money. Although there was no real incident, this man's behavior was a harbinger of what was to come. 


Finally the time came for Albert to talk to the salesmen. I don't remember the conversation but I do remember that Albert had his eye on a Sony TV. Again, I don't remember the price, but it must have been far below the market price, otherwise Albert would not have been interested. After some haggling Albert finally came to an agreement with these salesmen. I remember the TV was great for the time (around 1989-1990). It was black and was at least 24 inches wide, not to mention it was a Sony! After some trouble loading the heavy TV onto our car, we made our way back home to try it out.


I remember Albert was really exited. We lived in a second floor apartment so there was some trouble getting the TV upstairs. Finally, the TV was in our apartment! Albert struggled to get it onto a table and plug it in but to his frustration the Tv would not turn on. It was plugged in and should at the very least have been displaying the expected black and white static. As Albert tried to troubleshoot the TV he noticed something strange about the Sony logo on the front of the TV. He looked at it and, picked at it. To his ire he realized that the Sony log was just a piece of paper cut out from some magazine advertising Sony! As he removed the strategically placed misnomer he revealed the true identity of our illegitimate friend: Emerson.


This is the first memory I have of the brand "Emerson."  As you might imagine, Albert was furious. I remember him yelling about the fact that it was not a real Sony, and that he was going to go back and get his money from these scammers. Having discovered its true identity, Albert continued to probe the Emerson. Still unable to figure out why it wasn't working he realized the TV was two parts jerry-rigged into one solid TV. He pulled the two halves apart to discover the most egregious deception: The TV was full of bricks! This was the icing on the cake. Albert stormed out of the apartment to track down these evil salesmen. He quickly returned to the apartment, reporting that the scammers were gone. I imagine Albert just threw out the TV shell. After that, I think he was a little wiser when it came to dealing with the sidewalk salesmen. Let this be a lesson to all of you looking for an easy bargain. Sometimes you get exactly what you pay for.