Didn't expect THAT from the door to door meat salesman!

I'm working from home today and have a view of the front door from the table I work on. I see a young guy in his late 20's walk up and ring my bell. I walk over to answer it. I've been sick all weekend, so Stanley (my Bullmastiff) has been cooped up in the house and is bouncing off the walls today, so he's going nuts. I open the door and the guy literally backs a good 7-8' away from my porch when he sees Stanley's head try to wedge itself between me and the doorway to see what's going on. The look on his face was priceless.

The guy starts into his spiel anyway, "I'm just finishing up with some of your neighbors doing some food deliveries for a service that's like Allen Bros or Omaha Steaks (yeah right ), and I was just figuring that you eat good steaks too, right?"
"Yup, I buy a side of beef from a local farmer I know every year, grass fed, good stuff. I pretty much get all my beef from him."
"Ah, cool, you must get my sister then."
(Me thinking his sister sells meat too and her hook is that it's locally grown or something.) "No, it's actually a personal friend that I buy direct from."
"No, I meant my sister is really fat, like a cow. Have a nice day man."

It took me a second to replay it in my head 2-3 times to make sure I heard him right. Mean, but funny.

 

He meant it totally as a joke, but I obviously didn't get it for a couple seconds.

 

At least he has a good sense of humor? It's times like these that a giant dog comes in handy.

 

Trust me, the owner can be meaner than the dog when required.

I give him credit though. It's 90* and humid out, and he was sweating his butt off going door to door. He's at least trying to earn a somewhat honest buck. But I'm a meat snob, so I had to pass.
--- merged: Aug 1, 2011 at 2:09 PM ---

He struck me as the type of guy who was just trying to have a good time doing something that wasn't that fun. For all I know he just thought he could make me laugh even though he didn't get the sale and doesn't even have a sister. He was trying hard, and had been coached at least somewhat. He established common ground (claiming to be delivering to my neighbors), tried to get me in agreement right off the bat (you like good steaks too, right?), he was just selling something I wouldn't have bought for next to free.

 

Weird. Very weird. I probably would've just stared at him.

 

Almost as strange as that time in the middle of nowhere Maine a door to door lobster salesman.

 

Haha, yes, real meat.

It's a relatively common thing in this area. We usually get one every 9-12 months or so. They have a huge freezer in the back of a pick-up truck. They explain how great the steaks are, how they are vacuum packed, flash frozen, will last forever, half the price in the store, blah blah blah. I've looked at the steaks a couple of times, they are usually very thin cuts with virtually no marbling. Probably dairy cows that died of old age. So it's technically on the up-and-up in that you pay them and you get what they are selling, but I wouldn't bank on it being anything beyond very low grade meat.

 

Typically those are filet mignon. But sometimes places will sell sirloin wrapped in bacon too.

 

There are now places you can order from online, such as Peapod. There are also services such as Schwann's that deliver a limited menu of frozen foods. We even have a local dairy here that delivers milk, ice cream, etc. just like in the good old days.

But this was more a door-to-door salesman than a real delivery service.

 

When I was a little kid we got milk that way.

Our next door neighbors have four kids, and they get deliveries from the milk man (Oberweiss dairy, good stuff).