When my father finally had a chance to visit Surabaya for business, we met up and talked about a number of things for quite a bit. I really enjoyed our father and daughter bonding time.
It was Friday, August 30, 2013, and fortunately the following Monday was my day off. So, I proposed to my father, “How about I go with you on Monday to promote our products and find new customers?”
My father is a bag salesman. His office is in Ambarawa, a small town in the district of Semarang. Surabaya is just one of the cities he frequents for sales. He usually visits jewelry stores specializing in gold but he also accepts orders from other jewelers.
That Monday he already had a plan to visit gold jewelers in Pasar Atom. He accepted my offer and it was a date.
On Monday morning at 8:00, I woke up feeling energetic. It was the first time I offered to help my father. I have helped him in the past but it was mostly because I had to. It was not as gratifying.
I called my father, “Dad, are we still on for today?”
“Of course! I’ll pick you up at 10:00 at your place.”
“Okay.”
We met at 10:00 and we were off, straight to Pasar Atom. It was kind of funny because, normally, daughters accompany their mothers to go to jewelry stores, not their fathers!
It was the fourth time that my dad marketed his products, trying to find some customers in Pasar Atom.
The market was so crowded, jam-packed, and I got lost at once. I often got stuck in the crowds and forgot my way through the shops. Those who know the way out are mostly tough women who love shopping and bargaining. I asked my father, “Pa, did you ever get lost or confused the first time you came here?”
“Of course I was confused. I didn’t go to find some customers the first time I came here. I just went window shopping, going through all the nooks and crannies in the market. I didn’t know there was a Pasar Atom Mall. Then the next day, I came back to work and tried to find some customers,” he replied. And then I thought to myself, perhaps I could use a GPS to avoid getting lost!
After parking the car we split a few tasks between us. My father would bring a suitcase with samples of pouches while I brought only a few samples of bags. As we arrived on the sixth floor, we went straight to the first gold jewelry store.
Nailed it (almost)
“Excuse me, Koh, I’m from Ellysa, Ambarawa. Would you like to add a few more bags and pouches to your collection?”
Those were the first few sentences my father threw out at the first store we visited. My heart beat quickly. I didn’t know exactly what to do.
“Oh, we just had some pouches delivered yesterday,” said the handsome merchant. He was about 32 years old, dressed casually in jeans and a white tee. His gold necklace accentuated his class and social status.
“Would you mind taking a look at these first? We bring the latest models.”
“Oh, let me have a look.”
And father was ready, opening his suitcase with a good number of pouches in different sizes, colors, and shapes.
The merchant who had said he already had enough pouches came closer, took a look, touched a pouch and asked, “How much is this one?”
“No jing no pek go” (two thousand two hundred and fifty).
“This one?” he said, pointing at another sample.
“No jing go” (two thousand five hundred)
“Well, I like this one… but I still have plenty in my collection. Let me take a few notes and I will contact you next week. Do you have a card?” We didn’t know if that was a common rejection or if he really meant what he said. Alright, I guess we have done enough to persuade this gentleman. We cannot be too aggressive about it.
My father gave him his card and chatted for a minute. He arranged the pouches, closed the suitcase, said goodbye, and we left.
A Shopkeeper who loves to shake her head
There are so many gold jewelry shops up and down the halls of Pasar Atom. We did not visit all of them because my father had already gone to some of them during his previous trip. This time we went to one that he had not yet visited.
We passed by a shop that was not too busy with customers. We didn’t see a shopkeeper either. There was only a Chinese lady sitting there dressed in ivory white. She looked sleepy.
My father stopped abruptly and turned to the shop.
“Excuse me Cik, I’m from Ellysa Ambarawa. Would you like to have more bags or pouches?”
The lady just smiled and shook her head.
“Perhaps the small, medium or the big ones, would you like to see them?”
She kept on smiling and shaking her head.
My father gave her his card and said goodbye.
CCTVs everywhere we go
Unlike at the previous three shops, at the fourth gold jewelry shop my father didn’t start with his signature phrases. The shop owner already put in an order for a special design a few days ago but has not yet heard the final price. My father went just to tell him the price and seal the deal.
“My husband is not here at the moment, I’ll give him a call,” said the shop owner’s wife.
While holding the phone, she explained, “please wait a minute, he didn’t know you were coming. He’s at the other shop now.”
And then she spoke on the phone. She entered a room.
We had to wait for a long time.
As salespeople, my father and I waited and took a look at what was there.
We looked around at the front, in the back, right, left, up and down.
I counted. One, two, three, four. Ckckck… Eh there were more, five, six, seven. There were seven CCTVs in a 5×5 meter square shop. Wow…
Not all gold jewelry shop installs CCTV. To me, this particular shop has gone overboard. But who am I to judge? Some shops sell poor quality gold jewelry, others sell good jewelry, and still others sell gold jewelry encrusted with diamonds. The more expensive their products, the more effort shop owners put into their security systems.
The lady returned and gave the phone to my father. My father talked to her husband on the phone to negotiate a price and made a deal. Then my father asked for the lady’s signature to seal the deal.
After that we bid her goodbye and left the shop.
The aquarium shop
I walked behind my father and turned my head left and right to see all the gold jewelry shops as I passed by. There was one unique shop. Its four walls were covered in wood and glass. Its front door was 80 cm wide and always closed. From the outside it looked just like an aquarium.
I thought the shop sold silver. But this couldn’t be because silver is worth less, and because the shop’s design was more glamorous than that of gold jewelry shops. I didn’t see many customers there either.
My dad suddenly opened the door of the aquarium shop and we entered. It felt awkward to be in that small room. It was bright but there were not many pieces of jewelry or customers.
“Excuse me, brother, we’re from Ellysa Ambarawa and would like to offer some bags and pouches.”
“Bags and pouches? What are they for?” asked the gentleman, beside his staff.
“These pouches are for storing jewelry. Perhaps you’d like to have a look at them?”
The man looked at the bags that I held.
“Oh, bags and pouches for jewelry, huh? Unfortunately we don’t use pouches. Our products are diamonds so we use boxes like these, brother,” he replied while showing my father a sample of an elegant box.
“If you have boxes like these perhaps we can make an order.”
“Unfortunately, we only produce bags and punches.”
“Oh, yeah? Do you have a card? Maybe I can recommend your products to my friends who might need them.”
My father gave him a card. We bid farewell to make our way out of the aquarium and back to the crowded Pasar Atom.
Guessing a Language
We continued our trip to the next shop. After standing in front of a shop for a few seconds, a lady of about 60 years, covered in makeup and sporting a tall hairdo approached us. She looked at us with an investigative look.
My father gave her his signature phrase, “Excuse me, Cik, I’m from Ellysa Ambarawa. Would you like to have some more bags or pouches?”
The woman didn’t respond.
“So, cik, I bring some samples. Would you be interested?”
She replied, “Not now, I still have many.”
‘Gotcha!’, I thought to myself, ‘sorry Ma’am, that was a template phrase. It won’t affect my father.’
Just as I thought, my father kept going, “We have new products, Cik, maybe you would like to check them out.”
“Yeah, I’ll have a look.”
My father opened his suitcase. The woman started to check and touch the pouches my father brought out.
“How much is this?”
“Ini lian jien u, cik.” (This is two thousand five hundred)
The woman didn’t say a word.
“No jing go.” (Two thousand five hundred)
She stayed quiet.
“Two thousand five hundred.”
She was still quiet, but this time nodding her head.
She asked about the price of some other samples, and ended with “Not now, please come some other time.”
My father left a card and we left.
“We should try and guess which languages people speak here, shouldn’t we?”
“Yeah, there are Khek and Hokkian here. We need to use our guts. Sometimes they don’t understand either language so we use Bahasa Indonesia.”
I don’t mean to discriminate but as far as I’m concerned, if we can make an offer to a Chinese Indonesian, it might be friendlier to use their language.
Sold! Yay!
We were in the back of Pasar Atom. It was pretty quiet. Some shops were already closed. But some gold jewelry shops were still open. My father said, “We need to be patient and persistent as salespeople. So we visited a shop even though it was located far in the back.
There was a Chinese lady at her 50s. Her hair was curled, dyed blonde, and very tall. She wore a neon blue blouse and bright red pants and a belt. I didn’t get to see her footwear. There were two other women that seemed to be her staff and her son who was probably in college. They work at the shop.
Whoa, it seemed creepy, I thought.
My mother once said that salespeople are often looked down upon, yelled at, taken for granted, and ignored, especially when the shop is busy. But there’s a possibility that such clients could be the ones who make the most orders, and they could be the friendliest along the way.
“Excuse me, Cik, I’m from Ellysa Ambarawa. Would you like to buy some bags and pouches?” My dad started a conversation as usual.
“Wah, I just made an order, Koh,” the woman answered.
“I bring the latest model, Cik, maybe you would like to check them out.”
She turned to her desk, grabbed her glasses, and approached my father who was ready. He opened his suitcase and brought the pouches out. The woman’s eyes followed my father’s hand movements. Her right hand held her glasses; her left hand picked up and turned the pouches over.
One of her staff approached. She seemed to be a relative.
“This one is pretty, isn’t it?” the woman asked her staff.
“I like this one, A’i. The color is sweet,” she replied.
Another other staff, who also seemed related, shared her opinion, “this one is good, it fits the bracelet box.”
“Agreed, Cik, that’s why I’m considering the bigger one. Yellow-orange is a nice color. Pretty.”
They considered the designs, colors, and sizes and they chose one pouch. They proposed a small change to suit their needs.
Deal.
My father pulled out the his notebook and recorded the order. I was happy to see it. I didn’t usually care about work, earning money, or trying. I only went to school and received my pocket money.
And then one of the staff approached my father and spoke a bit softly, “Koh, can I order some more? Just 100 pieces, but without any designs.”
My father confirmed. I smiled.
After putting the notebook back into his bag, my father and I bid goodbye.
We walked back to our car with bright smiles, satisfied. I didn’t know exactly how much we earned that day. I didn’t care. It was fun. Those six gold jewelry shops were only a small part of my father’s journey through the shops in Pasar Atom, let alone Surabaya. There are at least 70 gold jewelry shops and they have their own association.
There are indeed many gold jewelry shops and every shop has its own colors.
Translated into English by Vivin Nofrina. English translation edited by Matthew Borden.
This post is also available in: Indonesian