Come Own Down! The Price Is Right
M. Ron Eslinger, RN, CRNA, MA, BCH, CI
www.eslinger.net
Can you imagine what it would be like to be sitting in the audience of The Price Is Right and hear Bob Barker say? “Come on down you’re on The Price Is Right!”
Well believe it or not, there are three people in Anderson County, Tennessee who actually experienced that wonderful sensation. Two of them were on the same program and spun the showcase wheel against each other. It was mother-in-law against son-in-law. Of course the son-in-law being politically correct lost to the mother-in-law. That was a good thing.
Six months later, a third family member also heard the call. “Come on down you’re on The Price Is Right.” She was soon to enter the winner’s circle with her husband and her mother.
Karen Eslinger, Ron Eslinger and Katie Stanton were all winners on The Price Is Right with Bob Barker. Yes, both ladies kissed him. Katie won the showcase by first beating out her son-in-law (me) when spinning the wheel. She walked away with an Alfa Romeo car, a living room full of furniture and a beautiful German grandfather clock. I did OK myself by winning a new car and a dinning room set.
Six months later Karen, my wife, celebrated a friend’s birthday at The Price Is Right. Her friend didn’t get chosen, but Karen did. That day she brought home a widescreen TV, VCR and two wonderful recliners to enjoy our new home entertainment system.
As Paul Harvey would say: “Now for the rest of the story.”
Karen and I learned early in our career to take each Navy move as if it was just an extended vacation. We knew that when we retired we would return to East Tennessee. Our order to Southern California was a simple 3-year vacation as far as we were concerned. Shortly after being assigned there we got tickets to The Price Is Right to celebrate Karen’s birthday. Karen’s mother and stepfather visited us in Long Beach for Karen’s first Birthday outside of Tennessee. So off we go to spend the day on The Price is Right.
They do two shows a day with 300 people in the audience and the producer interviews each possible contestant. You stand in line just like at Disney World except that you are 6 across and the producer starts left to right asking questions. It is quick and he who hesitates loses. Everything hinges on those first couple words that come out of your mouth.
When Karen faced the producer he asked her what she was doing in California. She said, “I’m on my vacation and I’ve come to The Price Is Right for my Birthday today.” He asked “how long are you going to be here?” “Three years,” she said. He came back with, “Do you think you will unpack? “Probably not,” was her answer.”
The producer then looked at me and asked. “How old is she?” I learned a long time ago that you don’t discuss a women’s age. So I said, “Sir, she’s the same age she was the day I married her. Three years younger than me.”
Now Katie, my mother-in-law, was another story. When asked by the producer why she was in California, she blurted out that she was on her honeymoon. She didn’t tell him that her wedding had been six months earlier and that she had been married six times and that this was the second time to her current husband.
How did we win? Karen was asked the prices of products that by coincidence she bought at the supermarket every week.
I had to guess and be with in $600 without going over the price of a car. I had spent every afternoon for two weeks looking at cars because our son, Doug, had just totalled our car in an accident.
Katie won the showcase because the other contestant simply over bid and was disqualified.
Was it luck? Was it fate? Or was it the power of positive thinking, body language and communication? The answer is that is was the air of expectation. We expected to get picked. However, expectations need education and communication. Therefore, we got advice from a past contestant and simply ask. “What is the procedure and what will increase our chances of being asked to “Come on Down!” We took their advice and we coached 8 other people who felt that wonderful rush when they heard the words “Come on Down!”