I’m not going to sit here and debate that smooth peanut butter isn’t delicious. We both know that it is. But the chunky variety? Sure, an added dimension of work is involved in chewing those pieces but ultimately, it makes for a better spread.
Such is life.
This morning, I waltzed into a reputable vehicle dealership with resume in hand. With no real sales experience on my side minus selling myself as a family day home provider for years, I don’t know Adam from selling an automobile and probably never will, but that’s not the point.
Next thing I know, I’m waiting for candidate A to be done and my interview was to follow. Sitting there, between texting my wife and watching snippets of The Price is Right in the lobby, I wracked my brain thinking of potential questions and how I would field them. Bottom line…I knew nothing about sales and I pondered why they might hire a dude like myself. Basically, every shred of confidence I thought I had went out the proverbial window and I felt like less of a man with each passing second. I even debated running out of there, arms flailing.
Reality really set in when I heard the clippety-clop of his hooves approaching…none other than the sales manager himself! I got up, put one foot in front of the other and thirty feet later, we sat in his office, which was more accurately a desk among many other sales persons desks.
After he perused my weak offering of a resume, I riffed on who I was, where I came from and where I wanted to go. He scoffed on my goals of Hollywood and my writing pursuits but instead of punching him in his face, I had to think, “When in Rome”, ‘cuz I wanted his job offer instead of me putting him in his small-minded place. After all, I was trying to land a job at the time.
The following ten minutes or so were his, as he spat out sales numbers and my potential to earn which truly was awe inspiring to hear. But drawback after drawback was also fed into the mix like the 10.5 hour days, 6 days a week with no holidays off and zero pay guaranteed, if zero sales were made. Faced with day in day out cold calling and rejection after rejection, things just got uglier.
At the end of it, he offered me the job and demanded I start tomorrow morning at 8am. Such a sea of mixed emotions! But none more strong than I won’t have any family time, writing time or gym time any more, and everything for my future revolves around and requires me pumping out the printed word.
Feeling like a great opportunity was at my fingertips, yes, but even moreso, common sense trumped. And that’s what I’m saying and I’m sticking with.
Life is all about difficulties. Rarely is it easy. Like the peanut butter analogy, one must deal with the nuts in the mix.