Just a rant, feel free to chime in to agree or disagree.
I've had a few crappy jobs in my life. In other circumstances i would be wallowing in self-pity, but good thing i have my youth. Now i'm at a comfortable stage with some sort of job security, cool workmates and a snazzy job title.
It wasn't always like this. My first "real" job, that didn't involve me helping out my dad with his self-owned business, was flipping "healthy" burgers. They snuck in the sales training from day one. Don't ever let the customer just buy a burger - ask them if they want fries with that. Convince them to upsize. Service with a smile. Every move was engineered to get food onto their plates and their money into our tills.
It was an enjoyable sort of job, but definitely not where i wanted to be long term. Plus, working with a bunch of college hipsters really begins to grate on you. I left that job after 10 months.
---
My next job was not what i expected - quite simply i was sold a lie. I was job searching online and came across this one ad: "No experience necessary, $1000+ per week!". I should've known it was too good to be true, but being a poor, recent graduate i was grasping at straws. I dug out the old suit i wore to my high school formal and started ironing.
Things looked promising at first - the office wasn't in the snazziest location but they definitely had someone with an eye for interior design. And i wasn't the only one who turned up - there were about 30 people sitting around, waiting or filling forms. We ended up getting interviewed in groups of three, which took about five minutes, after which they say "you're hired!" and take you to meet the rest of the team. Next thing i know they're taking us in a car to some suburb 30 minutes away for "observation training" with people who already work there, smartly dressed, holding clipboards and, strangely, British accents. In my head i'm thinking WTF, but i don't want to make a bad impression so i just go with it.
Then we got down to the nitty gritty. We split up in pairs, newbies to oldies, and we started... knocking on doors. This went on for about an hour or so and i slowly got the picture - door to door sales, selling ELECTRICITY, of all things.
Of course my initial reaction was "Fuck this shit", but i hung around anyway. During lunch break (usually we just find a petrol station to get some food and eat it on the curb) they were going on about how their boss, the guy who interviewed me, was managing to save - not earn - $2000 a week with just this one "branch". They told us about the cars he drove, the trips they had, all that jazz. For a moment I forgot all the unpleasantness of door-to-door sales and thought about the possibilities. One of the other newbies said to me in private that this was bullshit and was leaving; he was the smarter one.
The next few weeks was a blur of sales training, bus trips and door knocking. This was where i learned ABC, not by watching some fake movie. Open, storytelling, smile, posture, greed, time constraints, keeping-up-with-the-joneses and finally, ultimately, CLOSE. Every morning it was the same, disguised as a "team-building" ritual where people share ideas, when in fact it was the same idea, everyday.
I also experienced the highs of closing. After getting them to sign on the dotted line and i walked off, i was doing the jiggy. All that struggle, hustling, conniving, manipulating became worth it. Who cared that each "sale" only netted me $30? That a "good" day was just 6 sales? During seven hours of walking from door to door? Rain and shine? All i had to do was get to "Leader" status, build a team of my own, and the people under me will be raking in the dough for me...
It wasn't until maybe the third week, finding myself exhausted from all the travel and unhealthy lunches, that i really thought hard - what other company promises rich rewards by roping in people under you? I'll spare you the google search - Pyramid schemes and Multi-level marketing. If you were good and worked your ass off you could buy your own racing team - My boss's boss, head of Australian Operations, did.
But I was no good. I worked my ass off, walked from door to fucking door and knocked on every one and tried every trick in the book. It was becoming clearer and clearer that the ROI in this job wasn't going to be worth it.
The final straw was when we all went on a "road trip" - This is where pretty much everyone in the company packs up and heads to Hicksville, where the people are less sophisticated and more trusting. I've seen these guys lie and connive before, but these road trips were on a whole other level. We stayed in "budget" accomodation and i saw these salespeople for who they really were - backpackers, looking to make a quick buck.
I resolved to work this week as ethically as i could and turned out 24 "sales" - not even 5 per day.
Quitting this job was the best thing i had done in a long time, like a gigantic weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I headed into the office in jeans and a shirt, told them I had had enough, and went out to roam and take photos. I lasted a month in that "job". The world never looked more beautiful.
---
But it wasn't over yet of course. I had to go looking for another job. So i checked out this "recruitment agency" that helped new graduates find jobs. Reading their website profile, it seemed like they were doing God's work - helping impoverished, debt-ridden students get a leg up in the world.
I got a phone call and got invited to their "Orientation Day", where another 30 or so recent grads were attending. Everyone, once again, was smartly dressed and hoping to please. There was an opening lecture about how to clean up your resume and dress to impress. Everyone was nodding their heads in agreement, but looking back i can't help but think that maybe everyone was just doing what i did before - going with the flow so as to not make a bad impression.
We split up into groups and did some exercises that were supposedly testing our teamwork skills. They gave us a list of items and we had to decide which of them would be most useful if stranded in space.
Then came our individual "test" - i found out later that everyone had been asked to prepare a speech on why they would be a good candidate for "B2B sales". Before finding this company, i honestly had no idea was B2B was - i thought it was some telecommunications term, which although wasn't exactly my area of study, it didn't seem too boring either. Later on i found out that it meant "Business-to-Business Sales". So instead of knocking on doors to sell to individual consumers, i would be making calls and selling to companies.
This should've bothered me. But it didn't. I thought this was different, that it was a bigger game with better prospects. Little did I realise that what had in fact happened was I, including the other 30-odd young grads, had been fished, dressed up and offered to this company's "clients" for their commission.
I was no longer the salesman. I was the product.
Another google search led me to the same conclusion - disillusioned young grads never being able to get a job, people who used to work on the inside sharing the dirt, how the entire business model was based on the movie "Boiler Room" by some Brit who never watched it to the end.
They gave me the address of a company they had "organised" an interview with. I made it a point to get the interviewers as uncomfortable as possible, to make them think twice about using this "recruitment agency" in the future. I used aggression, sarcasm, painful handshakes and smirks.
Later on i got a call from the recruiters to ask how it went. I gave a huge smile and told it it went swimmingly, and they congratulated me before saying they would be getting in touch with the interviewer expecting good news.
Needless to say i never got a call from them again.
---
Which brings me to my current job. I'm now a Wine Advisor. Staff pricing on quality wines from around the country and the world. And of course, i'm becoming a wine snob (Wine datasheet in my signature). U jelly?![[Image: biggrin.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
Thing is, even we have a sales team. They make the calls, pitch the wines and close the deals. The difference is that the people we call ASK to be called. The difference is that we have a product of QUALITY. While the same ABC and other principles apply, i respect that this team is aware of a line that, while sometimes toed, is seldom crossed.
And it's a hard job. There are veterans in the team, but i also see new faces fade in and out all the time. It hard to succeed in sales and be ethical at the same time. I know i couldn't do it.
---
So, what's my point? I guess I feel it related to the whole hustling mentality and vibe i get from these forums. While i can respect the skills and knowledge of the successful salespeople, sales as a job or profession, with intangible products, i just despise.
When i feel i'm on hard times, I don't think of the poor starving children in Africa; I think of the people out there pushing electricity bills and young people's dreams, all for a quick buck.
I've had a few crappy jobs in my life. In other circumstances i would be wallowing in self-pity, but good thing i have my youth. Now i'm at a comfortable stage with some sort of job security, cool workmates and a snazzy job title.
It wasn't always like this. My first "real" job, that didn't involve me helping out my dad with his self-owned business, was flipping "healthy" burgers. They snuck in the sales training from day one. Don't ever let the customer just buy a burger - ask them if they want fries with that. Convince them to upsize. Service with a smile. Every move was engineered to get food onto their plates and their money into our tills.
It was an enjoyable sort of job, but definitely not where i wanted to be long term. Plus, working with a bunch of college hipsters really begins to grate on you. I left that job after 10 months.
---
My next job was not what i expected - quite simply i was sold a lie. I was job searching online and came across this one ad: "No experience necessary, $1000+ per week!". I should've known it was too good to be true, but being a poor, recent graduate i was grasping at straws. I dug out the old suit i wore to my high school formal and started ironing.
Things looked promising at first - the office wasn't in the snazziest location but they definitely had someone with an eye for interior design. And i wasn't the only one who turned up - there were about 30 people sitting around, waiting or filling forms. We ended up getting interviewed in groups of three, which took about five minutes, after which they say "you're hired!" and take you to meet the rest of the team. Next thing i know they're taking us in a car to some suburb 30 minutes away for "observation training" with people who already work there, smartly dressed, holding clipboards and, strangely, British accents. In my head i'm thinking WTF, but i don't want to make a bad impression so i just go with it.
Then we got down to the nitty gritty. We split up in pairs, newbies to oldies, and we started... knocking on doors. This went on for about an hour or so and i slowly got the picture - door to door sales, selling ELECTRICITY, of all things.
Of course my initial reaction was "Fuck this shit", but i hung around anyway. During lunch break (usually we just find a petrol station to get some food and eat it on the curb) they were going on about how their boss, the guy who interviewed me, was managing to save - not earn - $2000 a week with just this one "branch". They told us about the cars he drove, the trips they had, all that jazz. For a moment I forgot all the unpleasantness of door-to-door sales and thought about the possibilities. One of the other newbies said to me in private that this was bullshit and was leaving; he was the smarter one.
The next few weeks was a blur of sales training, bus trips and door knocking. This was where i learned ABC, not by watching some fake movie. Open, storytelling, smile, posture, greed, time constraints, keeping-up-with-the-joneses and finally, ultimately, CLOSE. Every morning it was the same, disguised as a "team-building" ritual where people share ideas, when in fact it was the same idea, everyday.
I also experienced the highs of closing. After getting them to sign on the dotted line and i walked off, i was doing the jiggy. All that struggle, hustling, conniving, manipulating became worth it. Who cared that each "sale" only netted me $30? That a "good" day was just 6 sales? During seven hours of walking from door to door? Rain and shine? All i had to do was get to "Leader" status, build a team of my own, and the people under me will be raking in the dough for me...
It wasn't until maybe the third week, finding myself exhausted from all the travel and unhealthy lunches, that i really thought hard - what other company promises rich rewards by roping in people under you? I'll spare you the google search - Pyramid schemes and Multi-level marketing. If you were good and worked your ass off you could buy your own racing team - My boss's boss, head of Australian Operations, did.
But I was no good. I worked my ass off, walked from door to fucking door and knocked on every one and tried every trick in the book. It was becoming clearer and clearer that the ROI in this job wasn't going to be worth it.
The final straw was when we all went on a "road trip" - This is where pretty much everyone in the company packs up and heads to Hicksville, where the people are less sophisticated and more trusting. I've seen these guys lie and connive before, but these road trips were on a whole other level. We stayed in "budget" accomodation and i saw these salespeople for who they really were - backpackers, looking to make a quick buck.
I resolved to work this week as ethically as i could and turned out 24 "sales" - not even 5 per day.
Quitting this job was the best thing i had done in a long time, like a gigantic weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I headed into the office in jeans and a shirt, told them I had had enough, and went out to roam and take photos. I lasted a month in that "job". The world never looked more beautiful.
---
But it wasn't over yet of course. I had to go looking for another job. So i checked out this "recruitment agency" that helped new graduates find jobs. Reading their website profile, it seemed like they were doing God's work - helping impoverished, debt-ridden students get a leg up in the world.
I got a phone call and got invited to their "Orientation Day", where another 30 or so recent grads were attending. Everyone, once again, was smartly dressed and hoping to please. There was an opening lecture about how to clean up your resume and dress to impress. Everyone was nodding their heads in agreement, but looking back i can't help but think that maybe everyone was just doing what i did before - going with the flow so as to not make a bad impression.
We split up into groups and did some exercises that were supposedly testing our teamwork skills. They gave us a list of items and we had to decide which of them would be most useful if stranded in space.
Then came our individual "test" - i found out later that everyone had been asked to prepare a speech on why they would be a good candidate for "B2B sales". Before finding this company, i honestly had no idea was B2B was - i thought it was some telecommunications term, which although wasn't exactly my area of study, it didn't seem too boring either. Later on i found out that it meant "Business-to-Business Sales". So instead of knocking on doors to sell to individual consumers, i would be making calls and selling to companies.
This should've bothered me. But it didn't. I thought this was different, that it was a bigger game with better prospects. Little did I realise that what had in fact happened was I, including the other 30-odd young grads, had been fished, dressed up and offered to this company's "clients" for their commission.
I was no longer the salesman. I was the product.
Another google search led me to the same conclusion - disillusioned young grads never being able to get a job, people who used to work on the inside sharing the dirt, how the entire business model was based on the movie "Boiler Room" by some Brit who never watched it to the end.
They gave me the address of a company they had "organised" an interview with. I made it a point to get the interviewers as uncomfortable as possible, to make them think twice about using this "recruitment agency" in the future. I used aggression, sarcasm, painful handshakes and smirks.
Later on i got a call from the recruiters to ask how it went. I gave a huge smile and told it it went swimmingly, and they congratulated me before saying they would be getting in touch with the interviewer expecting good news.
Needless to say i never got a call from them again.
---
Which brings me to my current job. I'm now a Wine Advisor. Staff pricing on quality wines from around the country and the world. And of course, i'm becoming a wine snob (Wine datasheet in my signature). U jelly?
Thing is, even we have a sales team. They make the calls, pitch the wines and close the deals. The difference is that the people we call ASK to be called. The difference is that we have a product of QUALITY. While the same ABC and other principles apply, i respect that this team is aware of a line that, while sometimes toed, is seldom crossed.
And it's a hard job. There are veterans in the team, but i also see new faces fade in and out all the time. It hard to succeed in sales and be ethical at the same time. I know i couldn't do it.
---
So, what's my point? I guess I feel it related to the whole hustling mentality and vibe i get from these forums. While i can respect the skills and knowledge of the successful salespeople, sales as a job or profession, with intangible products, i just despise.
When i feel i'm on hard times, I don't think of the poor starving children in Africa; I think of the people out there pushing electricity bills and young people's dreams, all for a quick buck.
Feel free to PM me for wine advice or other stuff
ROK Article: 5 Reasons To Have Wine On A Date
RVF Wine Thread
