Greg's dreams were vivid and glorious. He couldn't remember them upon waking, though. It was abstract happiness. His chemical dreams gave way to Digital Dreams. It was time to sell some computers.
    This was a store to be pleased with. This splendid little pawn shop was going to evolve into something greater. Greg would make sure of that.
    He sold his first computer just before lunchtime. It was for a snobby-looking kid getting ready for summer classes. The kid didn't look too bright, especially considering he was taking summer classes to catch up on his math scores. The parents tagged along to pay for this expenditure and were very talkative. Greg just smiled and listened. The father was well-to-do, making something in the six figures range. He was kind of a blow-hard, patting himself on the back way too much. Greg fed into it, though. Being a sycophant was a sad compromise when it came to selling. Out of necessity, Greg kissed the dudes butt, butt he didn't brown-nose. What's the difference between butt-kissing and brown-nosing? Depth perception.
    Greg was piling it on thick, but not overdoing it. It was enough to push the sale through. Greg procured one of the machines from the back, and placed it on the counter. The register beeped it's calculations.
    "That'll be $400, please." Greg said openly.
"What about sales tax?" The man asked, looking confused. Greg wore a similar expression of puzzlement. Ben had never discussed sales tax with this purchase. Greg supposed he really should charge it, though. Otherwise, the tax would have to come out of their own pockets.
    "Er, right. Sorry," Greg says awkwardly, "With 7% tax, it comes out to be $428."
    For a terrifying moment, Greg thought this would be a deal breaker. Little irritable things could always set someone off. Being inconvenienced at the checkout might still be enough to kill a sale.
    The man takes out his platinum card. "Ring 'er up." He says passively.
As Greg swipes the card, he explains the inconsistencies with the tax.
    "Sorry about that," Greg says, "my business partner is selling these on consignment, so I momentarily forgot about the tax."
    "No problem," the patron said easily. As they walked out the door, Greg hollered after them. "Tell your friends!! We sell monitors, too!!"
    The mans stops halfway out the door. He turns back towards Greg.
"You mean, this doesn't have a monitor with it?" the customer asks.
Greg's blood dips to an icy temperature. Uh-oh. This might wreck things.
    "Uh, no," Greg says carefully, "But you can hook it to your LCD television, if you have the correct input."
    "Ohwhat kind of input is that?" the man asks, groping for the answer. His wife looks a little distraught.
    "$400, and we don't even get a monitor?" The wife asks snottily, "what're we getting for that???"
    Greg pieced up a small brochure that Donny and Ben had designed. It was printed on glossy paper, and looked quite professional. Greg named off the specifications that Ben had pointed out.
    "It's got a quad-core cpu," Greg says, naming off the specs, "4 gigabytes of RAM, and a 500 Gigabyte Hard-drive. It also comes with a Blu-Ray reader, and a DVD burner."
    The couple stands in the doorway, unsure of any of this computer mumbo jumbo. Greg walks over to one of the demo computers, and points out the black VGA cable leading to the Television input.
    The gawky kid looked impatient to leave. "Just grab it and c'mon, wilya?" the kid screeched. The parents reluctantly follow their progeny out to the car. Greg was less than thrilled with the undertone as they left. Greg hurried out to the car and gave the husband his cell phone number.
    "If you have any problems, call me and I'll walk you through it," Greg said, "you can pick up the cord from the local Super Buy electronics store."
    Greg felt nowhere near as confident as he sounded. As the parents car pulled out, Greg phoned Donny and explained the situation.
    "Can you call them and help them hook it up, if they need it?" Greg asks anxiously.
    "I don't know their number, for one," Donny points out, "but can't you have a three-way line going, so we can all talk together?"
    "I don't know how," Greg says stupidly.
Donny asked for the model of Greg's phone, and Greg had enough problems just finding that out. He was confused between the serial # and the model # at first. Donny eventually found the manual online. Ben's phone was still being used as a modem for Donny, and worked surprisingly well. Donny told him how to enter the menu while on the phone, to join in with another's conversation.
    Sure enough, the father called back later that day.
"May I please speak to Craig?" the man asked hesitantly. Without correcting him, Greg gave his true name.
    "This is Greg," he says, "How did you make out?"
"Well, I bought the cord the guy in the store said would work," the man begins, "and it hooks up to both ends, the computer and the TV."
    "Uh-huh," Greg says, following along. Sweat was beggining to form on his upper lip. This was tense. The transaction hung in the balance. Ben was counting on every sale.
    "When I turn it on, there's a logo, says Digital something, then there's a little white bar, and the picture goes out. I've been messing with this damn thing for hours, and I'm having no luck. Do you know what I'm doing wrong?!?!"
    Greg had already opened Donny's contact number, and was preparing to patch him in.
    "I have an associate that is familiar with troubleshooting," Greg reveals, "Do you mind if I get him on the line?"
    "Not at all, Craig," the man says thankfully.
    Donny is warm-transferred over as he puts the customer on hold.
"Just try to be professional, please," Greg pleads.
"Ok, Greg," Donny assures, "Is he on the line now?"
    "Yeah, I can hear you," the husband says.
"Ok. How do you have the computer hooked to the TV?" Donny asks.
"this cord, it has a blue ending on it. It's plugged in both ends."
    "Ok. that's VGA. So, I assume your getting a brief picture, then it goes blank, right?"
    "Exactly," the man says, breathing a sigh of relief. All men involved are glad the husband doesn't have to explain himself.
    "on the back of the computer, do you see the connection labeled video?" Donny asks patiently.
    "what color is it?" the husband asks.
    "It's yellow, it should say video out."
"yeah, I see it. What do I do? Plug something in it?"
    Greg rolls his eyes. This guy really was thick.
"Yes," Donny answers, "Do you have a yellow, white and red cable in your home? These cables usually come with a DVD player."
    Greg hears the husband lean away from the phone and direct his wife to search for the necessary cables. The opening of a drawer can be heard, as well as their little brat whining incessantly about wanting to be able to get on the internet.
    "okay, I've got it," the husband says, "Its plugged into the back of the computer."
    "Right," Donny says, "Now, plug the other end into the TV. There should be a yellow connection on the television that says video IN. You're going OUT from the computer, IN to the TV, right?"
    A scuffling of wires. The husband leans and grunts as he wrestles with the hookup.
    "okay, done." The husband states.
"Now, this is important," Donny says slowly, "unhook the other cable, the blue one. Now, turn on the TV."
    Greg detects the clicking sound as the TV is powered up. Donny certainly sounds calm and in charge.
    "Now, turn on the computer," Donny directs, "You should see the logo come up."
    "I've got nothing," the agitated customer says.
"What input are you on?" Donny asks.
"What now?" the husband asks, getting upset.
"Grab the TV remote. there should be a button that says input, or source. hit the button until you see the picture.
    "Component, HDMI, Video one," the husband says, naming off the sources that show up on the TV, "Video two--OH!! Hey, I've got a picture!! How about that!!! Honey, look!! It's working!!"
    Everyone on the line is overjoyed. Especially Greg. Disaster was narrowly avoided. Donny was the man. Donny directed the customer to change the resolution on the computer to the lowest setting possible, 800X600. When switching back to the VGA cable, the husband got picture once more, this time with a picture twice as good. Donny also told the guy the easiest way to get video was to just use a regular computer monitor. Donny convinced the chap over the phone to purchase one of the refurbished monitors from Greg. In little over an hour later, the husband reentered the Pawn and payday, and picked up a monitor for $75. Greg separated the money from the rest of the safe, intending to give Bill his share of the dough.
    Greg had no other customers that day, just the one. But with a $400 sale under his belt, Greg didn't need any further shoppers. Greg tallied the sales board with exhilaration.  He was rapidly gaining on Donny's achievements. A friendly rivalry could help all parties involved. Greg intended to show Donny the meaning of the word salesmanship.

LINK TO PART 74: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/blogs/view/82532656/