Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Chests of Steel

Funky day. Woke up late. I had to be in a customer’s office, with breakfast, in like…40 minutes. Which means I had to get ready in speed dial, go to the west side of town, pick up the breakfast order, travel back to the east side of town, meet my coworkers, and truck everything up to my customer’s office. Smiling, together, toting breakfast, in their office - by 6:45 am. Many people are just getting up. I finish that meeting, and go straight from there to my office, then to a breakfast meeting, fielding phone calls all the way. Thank God and GM for OnStar ™ hands-free calling.

The phone calls are pretty important, and I arrive at breakfast meeting #2 a little unfocused, but the meeting goes well. We finish the meeting, and I go on about my day. Meet with one of my coworkers to discuss strategy. Make some appointments. Clear out some e-mails. At some point, I realize it’s 10:30am and we have a lunch date with more customers to go shoot our league, so jet to the house to pick up my shotgun, etc., pick up my customers, and off we go. We have a great time. Head back to the office for yet another meeting, some more phone calls, and so goes the day in the life of a salesperson. It’s never boring!

As MLH and I reviewed our days, I realized that portions of my day seemed to be filled with politics and/or people portraying portions of the animal kingdom. You know, jacking their jaws, marking their territory and beating their chests. Not literally, but, well, you know what I mean.


I love people. And I love the uncertainty of a group. One thing is certain about any group of people – you never know what is going to happen when they are gathered. Get a certain set of personalities together, and sometimes things just explode. And I seem to inspire the best to show their stuff. Sometimes I wish I could flash a sign that says something like:

“NOTHING TO GAIN, DON’T BOTHER!”

Or

“BREATHE. WE’RE ALL ON THE SAME PAGE HERE.”

Maybe I should just yodel. Like Tarzan. Think that would shut them down?

People. Gotta love ‘em.

Pardon me while I go get Cheetah, play Tarzan and mark my territory.

Oh…wait… I’m Jane.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I find that in these situations, it is usually best to fart really loud and make sure it stinks pretty bad. I've missed you, I lost a lot of readers when I moved my blog and never did notify everyone.

Bob Westbrook said...

I had a teacher who, back in the day they still had them, carried a big paddle and when the class got a little rowdy would slam it down with a loud "CRAACK". We would all jump to attention sitting in our little school desks and shut up. I can make a big paddle for you if you want.

Chris McClure aka Panhandle Poet said...

Excellent. I've been in sales for __ years -- I know exactly what you're talking about. Sometimes the best response is silence. Nobody know how to deal with it...

Karen Townsend said...

Ha! Good post. Oh yeah, I'm Jane. I know the feeling.

The husband and I are early risers, too. We're up at 5:00 and he's off to the office a little after 6:00 as a rule.

It is what it is.

That Janie Girl said...

Ba Doozie, thanks for stopping by! I never thought of that solution. :)

Bob - now, dude, that might just work.

Panhandle...that was my exact response...but inside, I was "Oh, my Lord."

Karen - I knew you'd understand, and yeah, you're right...it is what it is!!

Eric Siegmund said...

That's one of the things I do not miss about being a corporate drone. You're blessed with the skill to deal with it, and the wisdom to understand it.

Foo said...

Nice observation. It really is a jungle out there.

That Janie Girl said...

Thanks for your kind comments, Eric and Foo. In my jungle, y'all rock...

Anonymous said...

Cute depiction of a gang of workers together...