Best of 2000: Best Vacuum-Cleaner Salesman

La Jolla Sew & Vacuum
520 Pearl Street, La Jolla
(858) 459-6680

Vacuuming, if done right, is Zen. Ask any homebody with a Miele. And if you still need convincing, go see Kerry Lee at La Jolla Sew and Vac. Lee runs a solid 43-year-old business, so his sales style has gone beyond hard-sell to show-and-tell. For Lee, it's about finding "the right unit for the home." You fess up about your floors, furniture, family, pets, and general goings-on about the house and the man is in his zone, calculating foot traffic to pile ratios. Where do you live? Is dust an issue? You know they have units with Hepa filters. You can vacuum atoms off your ottomans. Before you're done with his Q&A, he's got a "durable, versatile unit" on a sample of your high-traffic flooring and is center stage. Lee works fast and furious, spinning, afixing, reafixing, and adjusting gadgetry. He chokes the hose and kinks the cord, just as you do at home.