“Let’s make kindness trendy!”

The people of Tbilisi are kind. All of them. Whether they are sellers trying to advise me as a customer—no matter the price of the product they recommend—whether they are locals, more than friendly, showing the right way, or whether they are hosts of accommodations doing everything they can to fulfill the needs of their guests. Whether they are seamstresses trying to make the impossible possible – there is a permanent kindness, even to be found in graffiti in public. (See picture below.)

However, there is one exception. And that is some of the personnel of a supermarket named “Goodwill.” Unfortunately, the name of the place is in no way a hint of what happens when an identified tourist enters and simply wants to buy a bottle of wine.

The following is an incomplete attempt to describe the experience. And—important to say—by telling this story I do not want to imply that all salespeople at “Goodwill” are like this. But unfortunately, the ones I met there were.

Entering Goodwill supermarket.
Seeing a stand with wine on offer. Stop. Check. That is pricey wine. A lady shows up:

“This is very good wine.”
OK (I appreciate the opinion—and why is this good wine?)
“This wine is red wine.”
OK (I can see that; it’s written on the label.)
“This is dry wine.”
OK (That’s what the label says.)
“This is Georgian wine.”
OK (Again, the label says so…)
“This is very good wine.”
OK (You said that before.)
“Thank you, I appreciate the recommendation. Now I’d like to have a look myself.” (A zillion bottles here.)
“But this is very good wine, you should buy it.”
“Thank you, I’d like to have a look around.”

After buying all kinds of things, I come back to the wine area a couple of minutes later. Another lady:

“Are you looking for a specific wine?”
“No, thank you, I’m just looking around.”
“OK.”

She leaves. I keep checking various wineries—year, grape, region—finally choosing one. Turning around: the first lady again, excited.

“Why do you choose this wine?!”
“Because I want to.” (Feeling interrogated.)
“But why?” (She’s looking back toward the stand with the bottles at the entrance.)
“Because I want to.” (Felling helpless.Feeling defiant. Feeling the need to escape. Hard to endure the disappointed look.)

Thinking: Why not offer a sip of the “very good wine”? Why not provide more details—grape, taste, year, region, anything? Handmade? Family business for 500 years? Whatever? Why the aggressive selling attitude? What’s the intention? To sell at any cost?

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