Thursday, April 3, 2008

Bosses

I have done some type of sales my entire career. Well, that's not entirely true. There have been maybe two jobs where I have not been involved directly in sales, meaning I wasn't selling something to customers, but I was still selling something. Being in sales, I have always had sales goals. And as I've moved up the chain and managed a few places, I have been responsible for making my sales goals through other people.

I am good at my job. I work hard, and I am competitive, and I care about whether or not I make my goals. I'm at work to win. I want to be the best in our market. So, I bust it every single day.

What makes me mad is when I have to call in my numbers at the end of the day, and I didn't quite hit the goal. Or didn't even get in the right state, much less in the right ball park. And my boss--the big boss as I call him--says, "Well, what happened?"

"You know what Mr. Big Boss? Between drinking all of those margaritas and the ping pong tournament we conducted in our store with the staff, we just didn't have time to actually work with any customers today. We let them know we'd be in full swing tomorrow, and they could stop back by then, when we were in a better position to assist them--meaning, not drunk. So, tomorrow, my numbers should look better."

I mean what kind of stupid question is that? If I knew what happened, I would have fixed the problem and sold something! I'm an adult professional. Although it is not a sixty year life span, I have done this my entire life. I know it is hard to believe that I am not completely retarded, and didn't give people the finger when they walked in the door today. And even harder to believe what really happened. That being that nobody actually came inside the store today because there was a torrential downpour outside during the hours we were open, and I couldn't get hold of anyone on the phone to generate any business, because most people are at work in the middle of the day. Shocking, I know.

Sometimes I think there may be no hope for upper management.

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