Jake's of Saratoga

Last weekend I found myself eating at Jake’s of Saratoga, a pizza joint that obviously welcomes families and soccer teams, and, according to their website, is a “Saratoga landmark”. I pocketed their menu, because I found it hilarious that they would feature a creepy man statue on the front.

When I mentioned this to my compatriots, they filled me in. This creepy man statue is Jake himself, and he used to be featured prominently at the Saratoga location, but has since moved to one of the other Jakes in the area. A traveling creepy man statue! What interesting marketing.

How one chooses to market oneself or their business is often a matter of personal taste, and I understand the thoughts behind this choice: Creepy Jake Statue lives at our restaurant, people love him and identify him with the restaurant–why not??  I can understand that.  I know that just because I find Jake’s statue creepy (and would expect small children to as well!) doesn’t make my opinion right. Continue Reading

Surprise Pack

I’ve been a Tupperware sales consultant for years, and I am continually mystified by this product they offer from time to time: the Surprise Pack.

This is how they bill it:

“Save 60% on Surprise Packs!
Requires a $25 Order
Save now on an assortment of Tupperware®
product solutions that can help make your life
easier. Product assortments may include any of
the following Tupperware favorites: One Touch®
Bowl Set, Heat ’N Serve® container, Kid’s
Lunch Solution Set, Spring Apron, Hamburger
Press Freezer Set and/or a Refrigerator Bowl
Set. Limit one with each $25 order. $100 value.
889195  $40.00”

So with a $25 Tupperware order, customers earn the ability to spend $40.00 on $100 of mystery Tupperware.  I, as a Tupperware aficionado, understand the varied uses of Tupperware products.  I use Tupperware to hold my paper clips, rubber bands, and sewing kit to name a few of the oddest uses.  I have a few shallow ones that help me organize loose tea bags.  Whenever I find something that needs to be organized I look through my stockpile of Tupperware for something that will work.

But even I have never thought it a good idea to invest in one of these Surprise Packs, no matter how much the discount is.  It’s just such a gamble!  I will perhaps acquire some of a fairly long list of products.  If I wanted those products badly enough, wouldn’t I rather just pay for it?

I’m sure that what’s actually going on is that they have a bunch of extras of everything on the Surprise Pack list.  If you take this gamble, you may very well may wind up with three Tupperware aprons (which I can’t even find a picture of anywhere so it’s obviously a product that no one liked!).

But if this Tupperware Surprise Pack sounds good to you, you can only buy it by contacting me at sisters@tupperwaresisters.com. Leave me a phone number and we’ll get your order placed!  Deadline October 8th.

There’s also a really good special you can only get by ordering through me (i.e., can’t get it online). The Clear Mates 12pc set ($101) is on sale for $49!  These are great for organizing your fridge and the Modular shape means you can fit TONS of leftovers in limited space.  Deadline October 8th for this particular deal.

Top 5 Reasons to Choose Tupperware

Top 4 Tupperware Products that Will Save YOU Money IMMEDIATELY

And don’t forget, you can shop for Tupperware online all day every day at www.tupperwaresisters.com!

I hate Comcast

I’ve written before about Comcast, and now that I’ve been their customer for 3 months I have to say that I hate them. Now, hate is a strong word and I try not to use it lightly. But I honestly hate them.

1. MONOPOLY.

I have two options to choose from: Comcast and AT&T. Given that I hate Comcast so much I should probably switch to AT&T. We probably will since Will just told me they have better customer service. The best it could be is the lesser of two evils.  Both have that new scheme where they charge you for super internet, or bumped up Internet or whatever their marketing team came up with to make it sound alluring.  Whatever it’s called, what you get is the same service you used to get before they made the standard service slower so that they could squeeze some more dollars out of each of our pay checks. Continue Reading

The Mog Car

I’m in the habit of noticing what’s happening at the car wash down the street.  I walk past it at least a few times each week and once in awhile a car will catch my eye.  It’s a popular self car wash; I’ve seen the local Organic Falafel Truck there (though unfortunately not open for business), taco trucks, old cars, major beaters, limos…

Today’s Mog Car really took the cake.  People were crossing the street to talk to the two car washers.  You couldn’t walk by and not talk to them.  I asked them what it was made of; I could not believe that they were washing a carpeted car at the car wash, and, indeed, it is made of a carpet-like substance.  The fellow I spoke to didn’t remember what the material was called.  He suggested that I might want to touch it, but I have spent enough time touching wet carpet as a Super Sponge Saleswoman to want to volunteer my fingers for such a task.

One thing was clear: people were noticing the mog.com vehicle. Despite the fact that the car didn’t seem to resemble any actual thing, or have a domain name that means much to the American psyche.  But we’re used to being inundated with random letters strung together to represent internet concepts, so I shouldn’t be surprised.  It turns out it’s a subscription music app.  Any fans out there leave a comment and maybe someday I’ll give it a try.  But only if they support Android phones. If nothing else, mog.com gets a gold star for a great marketing ploy.

The Adventures of Clumpy

You may not know this about me, but I am a huge fan of Days of Our Lives. I’ve watched the show since I was in high school, and am lucky to have witnessed Marlena’s head spinning and projectile vomiting a la The Exorcist when she was possessed by the devil, numerous serial killers and that time that Jack and Jennifer pushed some guy in that vat of acid (not really clear on the details there). According to my high school boyfriend, there was a time that I gave up Days of Our Lives (!!!) but I have no memory of that.

Somewhere along the line, my father started subscribing to Soap Opera Digest for me (I think he gets them for free), which is an excellent addition to my life. It is because of this excellent addition to my life that I have this awesome gem to share with you:

You're going to want to click on this to study it more closely. Seriously.

Yes, this cat that looks like a long-haired version of the Guster is staring at a giant litter scooper in the sky. Yes, the giant litter scooper in the sky is holding a purple blob that looks like a hybrid of Meatwad and a Teletubbie giving us what might be a thumbs up.

If that cat were anything like the Guster instead of just looking a little like him, he would have run screaming. He also wouldn’t even be on the moon because he’s not really allowed outside of house, even though he’s been embarking on a few sordid outside adventures of late (part one, part two).

Yet, here this cat is, staring–seemingly in awe–at this scooper and scoop-character (I think we’re supposed to believe his name is Clumpy) in the sky.

Lots of ads are weird and random so let’s forgive this part. It turns out if you look at the lower right hand corner, this is not an ad for a movie that no one in their right minds would want to see, but an ad for Scoop Away brand cat litter. OK, it’s an ad for cat litter.

Have you ever seen a cat poop? I think that most of us have, and for those of us who haven’t, it’s a lot like a little dog poop, which is somewhat like a little human poop. It looks nothing like Meatwad, and only nominally like a Teletubbie. They are not purple, they do not have eyes, and they are not shaped like a biscuit. Is this ad telling us that if we use the Scoop Away brand cat litter (which, btw, is terrible and horrible for the environment, though nothing compared to the BP oil spill), our cat’s poops will turn into little purple biscuit-shaped poops and fly away into space? Cause that would be pretty awesome, but a rather bitter pill to swallow, if you know what I mean (or if I even know what I mean, which is that it would be hard to swallow).

It turns out, if you visit www.scoopaway.com, as this ad urges you to, there are indeed movies–almost adventures–starring Clumpy. They all have the same general story line–Clumpy stays together while his counterpart falls apart, be it while lifting weights at the gym (while flirting–mind you–with a yellow clump of cat poo), catching rays at the beach or scaling the Alps. OK, Scoop Away brand cat litter, you got me to look at your website. I stared, transfixed in horror, at these elaborate scenes you probably hope will go viral and somehow increase your hold on the demographic of soap-opera-watching-cat-loving women who all share the same general distaste for litter box cleaning. You win.  I’m even helping you by drawing attention on the Internets to your misguided attempt at viral marketing.  But be warned:  I predict a class action lawsuit on behalf of American housewives and other soap opera addicts who will soon find themselves haunted by these smiling purple cat poops in the sky.