Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for March 20, 2012

TJ should be a car salesman.

More than just an upsell. Need meat on your bones? Go to Weenie World!.Teenie weenie special? Really? Who named that deal??

And that’s how the Super-Sizing of America begins.

The boy’s good.

Now, why can’t I upsell like that in MY job?

He does come across as incredibly pushy. I don’t see how he could possibly “double business”, unless nobody in Pittsville has a spine.

Teenieweenie Special eh? TJ had you down for something more manly than that!

SO that is how he doubles his sales? WW must have really ignorant and dumb customers. I would have seen right through him and insisted on the $2 special and nothing else! Just like a car salesman – always trying to hoodwink customers into paying extras or slipping it onto the sales forms in hopes they don’t notice the extras and end up paying for them. I caught quite a few of them and demanded explanations for those extras and demanded them removed. Sheesh. I loathe slick salespeople and I see TJ is one of those. Ugh!

Went in for a fish hook and came with a boat and a truck to pull it!

Guy is most likely a plant (friend of TJ’s) who makes him look good in front of the boss lady. by allowing the upgrades.

Word

She’s a comic!

Back to focusing on seconday characters of the strip!

Well, we get to see TJ’s technique in action. And even if it might not work in the Real World, it appears to be pretty successful in the Comics Universe. —Even if Ann Eiffel finds it hard to believe (“incredible”). We’ve got to keep in mind TJ’s mesmerizing charm (even if we don’t like it, the guy’s got IT).

TJ… Undercover Boss…

He’s not ripping anyone off. If they’re too weak to say ‘no’, that’s their problem and they’ll have to learn how to deal with it like grownups – or else go through life broke. But since they’re getting food for their money, he’s not ripping them off or cheating them.

Anyone who tries that with me is in for a long and interesting discussion for the need for a hearing check up and the need of a brain in working order. And that’s only to start with. Very politely but also very loudly. I once held up a file for long minutes until the manager offered me a free drink just to get me to move.

TJ is using classic techniques of persuasion to elicit a “click, whirr” response from his public, and they work. Salespeople do it all the time, and while many find it annoying, more are not even aware that it’s being done to them, hence it continues. The only weapon against persuasion techniques is education.

My God, TJ’s like the BORG assimilating one SUCKER at a time!“TJ should be a Car Saleman”?HELL, In a Nation of SHEEP, he’s got a GREAT Career as a Politician (And You can Pick the Party of Your Choice)!Isn’t there ANYONE, ANYWHERE within the VAST Luanniverse that can STOP this Grining Jackass?!!?

Well, it’s not as blatant as shown – to get the point across quickly. The upgrade is often so subtle that it can slip right by us. We think, “OK, that’s a good idea and it only costs a little more” The other day a news show ran a segment on grocery stores showing product placement and direction of customer flow improving impulse buying.

Taking wagers on how long it is before she jumps his bones.

TJ for President!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with hank1938

He’s wasted on hot dogs.

I’ve forgotten why TJ is financially secure. Does he own WW? Hmmmm….

It is the same ploy that restaurants use with dessert trays. How many times did you think that you would not have any dessert & then your server came around with the tray. You saw all of those goodies & the next thing you knew you were ordering one!

This is going to be very dull unless Ann decides to check out TJ’s own teenieweenie special.

Sometimes I feel sorry for the prisoners here who don’t know how to suspend reality and participate in the fantasy world of the comics. But in way, you are part of the entertainment. Like Bill. Even JJ.

Eye-Full is easy to fool. She was wise enough to know she’s not too bright and to avoid higher employment in favor of WW where she could exercise her abusive nature and still keep the job.

I agree with Ann – it is incredible. TJ’s tactics may work for awhile, but customers would soon resent being pressured. Aggressive sales tactics are effective only in establishments that don’t depend on frequent repeat business.

JUST the TeenieWeenie’s PLEASE!

How does this make TJ look good? If someone at a fast food place (or anywhere) did this to me, I’d leave and/or complain to the manager. I’d probably avoid that chain entirely after that, and eat somewhere where I’m not forced into getting food I don’t want or paying almost 5 times as much as I intended.

Oh, Ann likes it alright. She just can’t believe it. And TJ is not ripping off the patrons. They are getting everything they pay for.

And then you’d be hungry while TJ moves to the next person in line.

There’s a sucker born every minute – and TJ is the obstetrician.

Back when I still ate fast food, I not only knew what I wanted to order, I usually tryed to have exact change ready in the drive through lane. I couldn’t usually understand when they repeated on the speaker, but if the amount on the screen was not as expected – I’d repeat my order LOUDLY! No changes or upselling.

@Sheriff, sometimes it does seem like the readers can’t remember that it IS a toon. But I find it fun how each person relates to the characters. I have found our bunch over at Dinette Set often is lively that way, getting a little slow over there and I think it’s interesting to get back over to TJ and AE. I like that Greg changes scene for a week or so -things are going so smoothly at WW that it needs some conflict.

Hey … The patron isn’t correcting TJ about the mistake in the price of the meal. So much for who’s looking to get over on someone.

After all these years I have finally figured it out….TJ is the reason I am fat!

Good old TJ…now to s-l-o-w-l-y reel the boat gently to her fishy side, slip the net under her, help her into the boat…gut her, slice her up, cook her…and EAT her.and spit out the bones.Adios evil B…

I dont remember in the strip where it was metioned that TJ is well off. Can someone fill me in? I do admit I have started reading louann after not reading the strip for a long while. Thanks

Just a guess, but I think you might be in a very large minority. Half of what is left (minus the minority you are in) would go qalong, and the other half would just say “No.” And maybe “No, Thank you.” I get this almost every time I go into Micky D’s, and a lot of the time in other Weenie-World type places.

If anybody thinks about it, TJ is doing what he is supposed to do, especially if he wants to move up the corporate chain. He IS increasing sales. We all know that he has an ulterior motive (getting AE’s goat) and the last panel shows it’s working. And if you look at what TJ says the price is, I think he added the price of the pie in there. NOBODY can accuse TJ of being dumb!

Guys got the magic touch!

I suspect that the clientele of a Weenie World are not among the more sophisticated diners. The older generation of mall walkers might use it for cheap coffee (as opposed to Starbucks), but I think it would mostly be teenagers and young mothers with little kids. I’ll bet it’s been about 10 years since I’ve been in a Micky D’s and got really sick from one of their hamburgers.

TJ would do well in Congress!

me too!

After reading the comments here- I am compelled to pass on a lesson learned. This concerns 2 particular employees at the hotel I manage (a college grad- going for masters and the other a college student) who cannot do simple math and have no concept of how much things cost or how much they pay for things. Why are they still employed? They are 2 of the most charismatic people I have ever met and can talk down the most boisterous and argumentative customer. Charisma and confidently delivered flattery can get people to do things that they would never do otherwise. Our filed customer complaints, both in person and the email satisfaction survey we send out 10 days after checkout, have dropped significantly after I made them “guest relations”. There were several months after I promoted them that I did just what AE did in the last panel- Now, I accept that most people are willing to be led down the path if the person leading is confident, charamatic, and capable of subtle or not-so-subtle flattery.

That guy’s a wimp. TJ is EVIL!

Except that commodities that you can make a deal on with a sales staff, like cars or tires, aren’t hot dogs. Fast food prices aren’t negotiable (outside of coupons), so TJ’s “surprise” of “it should be double” isn’t due to a discovery of some fake “hidden discount” – which is why the hapless patron’s doing that reflexive validation of the total. This sort of hard upsell is blatant and deliberately outrageous and would make most of us go to the Hellno part of town – but of course it’s for comic effect. And it’s also based on Greg’s ideas of how businesses are run – at least in the Luanniverse.

WHAT??

It’s the customer’s fault for not saying no, I used to be like that before I got a backbone.

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agreed they are many more restuarants in the world

OK, this is what some people have always accused TJ of being, a hustler…

This reminds me of a test to see which salesperson customers liked better. Two were selling candy and customers ordered a pound. One salesperson would put more than a pound on the scale and take candy off until it was exactly one pound. The other salesperson put less than a pound on the scale and added candy until it was a pound. Customers preferred the latter salesperson.

he could sell a Frigidaire to an Eskimo!

wow he sure put that b*tch in her place… nothing worse than a woman who has control of something.

I’d gate foe TJ to come knocking at my door to sell something or ask me to donate. I find it hard to turn people away as it is. Also, it’s past midnight but this comic made me decide to go to a nearby 24 Carl’s Jr.