Perception
I was at classy wine bar this weekend with a friend of mine. Since it was "Girl's Day Out," we got dolled up and took my sportscar, a Lotus Elise. Upon arrival, the valet looked at the car with a small degree of awe.
"Dude, what is this?"
"It's an Lotus Elise," I replied, giving him the additional instruction that it starts with a BUTTON so he wouldn't attempt to break the key off in the ignition. Now, those of you who know me know that I love any and all types of cars, and my biggest addiction (other than Starbucks) is speed. So I was pretty flattered when they parked my little yellow car next to a SL600 V-12 Mercedes directly down in front. A few moments later, two Ferrari 360 Modenas joined the party.
We sat at table on the patio since it was a beautiful day, and I observed how many people looked at the cars parked down in front. What amazed me the most is how many people walked right past the $100,000+ cars over to my tiny little go-cart car.
There are NO creature comforts in the Elise; I almost feel like I should turn around & pull-start it like a 5hp Briggs & Stratton. We bought the car because it is a racecar, pure & simple. But slap a label on the back and give it a pretty yellow paint job, and people assume it's a $100,000+ car, too. I had the realization that labels can be very, very misleading.... and that made me wonder how many people judged me when I stepped out of it.
"Dude, what is this?"
"It's an Lotus Elise," I replied, giving him the additional instruction that it starts with a BUTTON so he wouldn't attempt to break the key off in the ignition. Now, those of you who know me know that I love any and all types of cars, and my biggest addiction (other than Starbucks) is speed. So I was pretty flattered when they parked my little yellow car next to a SL600 V-12 Mercedes directly down in front. A few moments later, two Ferrari 360 Modenas joined the party.
We sat at table on the patio since it was a beautiful day, and I observed how many people looked at the cars parked down in front. What amazed me the most is how many people walked right past the $100,000+ cars over to my tiny little go-cart car.
There are NO creature comforts in the Elise; I almost feel like I should turn around & pull-start it like a 5hp Briggs & Stratton. We bought the car because it is a racecar, pure & simple. But slap a label on the back and give it a pretty yellow paint job, and people assume it's a $100,000+ car, too. I had the realization that labels can be very, very misleading.... and that made me wonder how many people judged me when I stepped out of it.
posted by Kristie at 10:05 AM
1 Comments:
The fact that you know you have to pull start a Briggs-Stratton gave me the willies of joy!
I fight the perception does not equal reality war all the time. Can't get people to understand my point of view.
~Jef
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