Are you selling me a car or a spatula?

I went to yet another cooking show this evening. When did the tupperware parties of the 50s and 60s get replaced by cooking show and candle parties? Was it a sudden shift or was it a gradual change to this paradigm of hostess at home shopping in the new millennium? Can I still call the millennium new? The home hostess is one of my closest friends, so I go because A) She's hilarious and I love being around her, B) We have mutual friends who will be there and I also love being around and C) She supported me when I actually considered being part of one of these ventures to increase my financial stability.

Yet, every time I go to any of these parties- be it candles or a cook books- I feel like someone is trying to sell me a car. You know, that feeling when you are looking for a car and that salesman is trying to convince you that the car you are looking is the best car IN THE WORLD. Meanwhile, I am sitting there thinking, "I could get that bowl for 5 bucks cheaper at Target, and it would work just as well." I do concede that I was pulled in to being one of these salesman, selling candles. But frankly, those candles rock and I was seeking some way to make my mortgage payments with more ease while still (at the time) single and fending for myself. The reason I didn't follow through is because I am not a car salesman, or seller of any other goods. I have little capacity to be able to convince someone, "This plastic spatula is the best you ever had, it is the best anywhere." Frankly, I think in the commercial world, there are too many options for me to be convinced that I should spend 10 dollars on a small piece of plastic. I have steak knives I bought at the dollar store right out of college, 9 years ago. They still hold up ok. I did succumb to buying a cook book, but if I do the whole bridal shower thing, it will involve more alcohol and less sales pressure from the stranger cooking in the kitchen.