Artisan in the Park

"Sir, can I interest you in a hand-carved trinket?"

Those are the words I heard from a gentleman who approached me as I entered the park to eat my lunch. He held up some sort of wooden pieces attached with a string. I didn't take the time to study what it was he was selling to properly identify the exact nature and usefulness of said trinket. After a few minutes of eating my lunch and pondering our brief dialogue/sales pitch, I realized the question he asked was a different one than I had heard, although he probably meant the same thing. What I heard was, "Are you interested in buying this configuration of wood and string," when in fact he asked me if he could interest me in whatever he was selling. I though he was giving me a sales pitch when in reality he was giving me a lead-in to one. Now, after having considered his actual question as to the possibility of interesting me in something, I should have answered, "Probably not."

However, he gave up after hearing me say, "No, thank you." I supposed technically I wasn't shutting the door on his presentation but rather predicting the success of it. Could he interest me in his hand-made trinket? No, he cannot nor did he attempt to. He then merely wished me a good day.

But as I continue to think, I'm wondering if my no response was to his inability to sell or my ability to resist a sale and succumb to being convinced to be interested. Since the subject of the question was himself, my answer would indicate that he lacks the ability in this instance to motivate me to be interested. In which case, I probably should have answered, "I'm not sure if you have the skills it takes to interest me in your product." It's apparent he didn't.