(Part of a short story collection based around a prompt. The prompt was 'selling memories or experiences.')
“We at Glimpse scout and curate first time experiences.” Stan gave his new potential customers his winning smile, straight from the highway billboards, hiding the desperation to make a sale. “You want to be the first, and we provide that. A world record, guaranteed.”
The customers looked like a typical family. Husband, gone a little to seed. Wife, clutching his arm and doubtful. Boy stuck on his phone, texting furiously, wearing a black shirt that said “Who cares?”
“Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people to climb Mount Everest. Imagine that. Being the first human being in history to stand on such a desolate and lonely place on earth, seeing the horizon from a perspective nobody else ever had. Of course, now over seven thousand people have climbed Everest. It’s no longer such a badge of distinction, you could fill an auditorium with them. There were no heights left to summit.” They were all rich too, a condition Stan envied and counted on his customers to envy too.
Stan let his prepared patter roll off his tongue. He’d really practiced the energy in that pitch, and the carefully honed dismissal of seven thousand. He had the father of the family standing in his shop hooked, he could tell, but he’d have to work to reel in the rest of the family.
“Fifteen years later that was proved false of course! Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, climbing to a height that made Everest look like a molehill. It was a new experience for anyone. They were the first. Everyone remembers their names, but who remembers the fifth man on the moon? Not you, not me. Nobody really. That’s why Glimpse can guide you to a First Experience nobody else has done yet.”
The wife spoke first. “That really seems dangerous.”
The kid snorted. “That sounds like hype.”
Talk past the sale. Stan nodded sagely, projecting as much warmth and understanding as his garish tie and striped suit jacket would allow. “It can be, but you’ll see once you make your purchase that the utmost care is put into safety, and there are first experiences in our catalogue that are a natural fit for your caution.”
“First person to go hot air ballooning in diving gear. First person to ride the New York Subway with two tarsiers on their head. Those were our trips, and both made Guinness Book of World Records. Unbroken records for almost a decade now!”
It helped to have a man working at Guinness of course. Stan spent hours with the man coming up with ridiculous firsts that could be talked up and sold as guided, one of a kind experiences, and hours more plying his inside man with drinks on Stan’s tab. And of course there was a reason the records were unbroken- nobody else cared to break them.
Stan noticed the kid was losing focus. “Or take Minecraft. There’s a bunch of different ways to be the first in Minecraft, like Rattles being the first person to beat the dragon in under three minutes. KurtJMac has traveled the farthest though, wandering all the way to the far lands without mods or cheats. Both of them had a new experience.” That was about as much time as he could spend on the non-purchaser, and not coincidentally was just about all of the Minecraft knowledge he knew.
The kid rolled his eyes at Stan. “Why do you do this for a living? There’s gotta be jobs that aren’t as lame.”
Stan fixed his grin on his face, ignoring the brat. Foot in the door, go from there.
“You can try it out with our small records catalogue. Nothing too challenging. Of course, once you get a taste for fame, you may find you want a little more. . .” The husband nodded, interested enough to read the catalogue. Neither of the family members stopped him.
Glimpse was the best service of its kind. Stan would know- after all, Glimpse was the first and only one of its kind.
(Part of a short story collection based around a prompt. The prompt was 'selling memories or experiences.')
“We at Glimpse scout and curate first time experiences.” Stan gave his new potential customers his winning smile, straight from the highway billboards, hiding the desperation to make a sale. “You want to be the first, and we provide that. A world record, guaranteed.”
The customers looked like a typical family. Husband, gone a little to seed. Wife, clutching his arm and doubtful. Boy stuck on his phone, texting furiously, wearing a black shirt that said “Who cares?”
“Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people to climb Mount Everest. Imagine that. Being the first human being in history to stand on such a desolate and lonely place on earth, seeing the horizon from a perspective nobody else ever had. Of course, now over seven thousand people have climbed Everest. It’s no longer such a badge of distinction, you could fill an auditorium with them. There were no heights left to summit.” They were all rich too, a condition Stan envied and counted on his customers to envy too.
Stan let his prepared patter roll off his tongue. He’d really practiced the energy in that pitch, and the carefully honed dismissal of seven thousand. He had the father of the family standing in his shop hooked, he could tell, but he’d have to work to reel in the rest of the family.
“Fifteen years later that was proved false of course! Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, climbing to a height that made Everest look like a molehill. It was a new experience for anyone. They were the first. Everyone remembers their names, but who remembers the fifth man on the moon? Not you, not me. Nobody really. That’s why Glimpse can guide you to a First Experience nobody else has done yet.”
The wife spoke first. “That really seems dangerous.”
The kid snorted. “That sounds like hype.”
Talk past the sale. Stan nodded sagely, projecting as much warmth and understanding as his garish tie and striped suit jacket would allow. “It can be, but you’ll see once you make your purchase that the utmost care is put into safety, and there are first experiences in our catalogue that are a natural fit for your caution.”
“First person to go hot air ballooning in diving gear. First person to ride the New York Subway with two tarsiers on their head. Those were our trips, and both made Guinness Book of World Records. Unbroken records for almost a decade now!”
It helped to have a man working at Guinness of course. Stan spent hours with the man coming up with ridiculous firsts that could be talked up and sold as guided, one of a kind experiences, and hours more plying his inside man with drinks on Stan’s tab. And of course there was a reason the records were unbroken- nobody else cared to break them.
Stan noticed the kid was losing focus. “Or take Minecraft. There’s a bunch of different ways to be the first in Minecraft, like Rattles being the first person to beat the dragon in under three minutes. KurtJMac has traveled the farthest though, wandering all the way to the far lands without mods or cheats. Both of them had a new experience.” That was about as much time as he could spend on the non-purchaser, and not coincidentally was just about all of the Minecraft knowledge he knew.
The kid rolled his eyes at Stan. “Why do you do this for a living? There’s gotta be jobs that aren’t as lame.”
Stan fixed his grin on his face, ignoring the brat. Foot in the door, go from there.
“You can try it out with our small records catalogue. Nothing too challenging. Of course, once you get a taste for fame, you may find you want a little more. . .” The husband nodded, interested enough to read the catalogue. Neither of the family members stopped him.
Glimpse was the best service of its kind. Stan would know- after all, Glimpse was the first and only one of its kind.