I want a drink!  There, I said it.  I am not an alcoholic, nor do I overindulge frequently, but right now, I think I could benefit from a nice Bailey’s over ice….something that requires slow sipping as opposed to shooting something hard and fast!  I don’t have the urge to get intoxicated, just take the edge off, so to speak.  It has been kind of a brutal couple of days, in the world of credit card acquisition, and this is one rep who is completely, utterly, and totally Frustrated.  Yes, I meant to make that a capital F, it was not a typo.  It generally takes an awful lot for me to suggest that I NEED a drink, not just that I want one, and if I didn’t have a massage appointment that I have to drive to, in little more than an hour, I would likely be hammered before 5 pm. So, rather than break the law and drink and drive, which I have zero tolerance for, I am going to serve up an extra large helping of “poor me”.  You have been forewarned, so if you choose to RUN, do it NOW!

As a salesperson, I am currently on salary, however, I have a weekly quota of credit card applications I am required to maintain, in order to, pay for myself, for want of a better term.  Usually I have little issue with this, and always come in at or above, and everyone is happy!  The first couple of days of this week, were gravy days, as the store I was working in, had coupon days, which drives the customer in, and I cleaned up.  As long as I have been doing this job, and it has been about six months in this particular gig, Wednesday has not been a good sales day, in any store, so smart me, I stayed a little longer this past Tuesday, and made sure I had half of my daily quota covered for Wednesday, if you follow me.  As a result of my smart thinking, I subsequently only needed to work about an hour and a half on Wednesday, to have it covered.  Look how brilliant I am would you!  If only that brilliance had transferred itself into Thursday and today, I’d be happily sitting here playing silly facebook games, sipping something hot, and contemplating everything I could be doing this weekend, instead of brooding and scowling, and holding back the tears, knowing I will have to take time out of my weekend to go into work, and make up the rest of my numbers! Crap!

I have always trained new people, in any sales position I have been in, that people are saying no to what you are offering, not to you, and if they are in a bad mood, in also has nothing to do with you, you can’t predict how someone’s day has been by just saying hello, in most cases.  Never take the no personally.  Right.  Yah.  Well, after the last two days of frustration, I am desperately trying to convince myself, of the validity of those two statements.  Wait a second….it’s a full freaking moon!!!!  That so explains the crazies!  I just saw a very large flash of light, right above my own head.  A full moon AND kids not in school.  I seriously want to smack myself on the forehead just now, and say out loud, of course you dummy.  I just sat back in my chair, let out a huge audible sign, sipped my ice water, and shook my head.  Damn, I wish I had considered that about two hours ago, I might have been able to tough out another few apps, and saved my Saturday!  A whole mess of wind just blew right out of my vent.  I already feel better, but I will continue to fill you in on a few of the highlights of the last couple of days, just because I don’t like my posts to be less than a thousand words.

See, what drove me close to insanity, okay maybe closer to would be more accurate, was that everyone and their kid/spouse/grandmother, felt the need to touch me when they said no, or call me “dear”, “hun”, “sweetie”, “luv”, all day yesterday.  Did they think that rubbing my shoulder or using some term of (inappropriate?) endearment, would make me feel better, about their rejection?  Seriously, I have no problem with the physicality,  on occasion, and I love to be touched, by people I actually KNOW, but for nearly four hours, of strangers getting into my bubble, I was really getting creeped out, and annoyed, and I swear, so close to smacking someone with my clipboard by the end of the shift, that I left, two short of my daily goal, knowing full well I would make it up, today.  Wrong.

Up until just a couple of weeks ago, we were offering $20 in free food to try the card we are hawking, er..I mean GIVING away.  They decided that, because it was slow, that they would double the offer, but it certainly hasn’t had much affect on the people we are talking to, or the number who are coming in to the stores.  I cannot sell to people who are in the parking lot, or Tim Horton’s, or A&W!  Today, being Friday, there should have been tons of people shopping, but there were empty aisles everywhere.  It didn’t help that I went in maybe a shade too early in the day, as a direct result of my boss not remembering we had a meeting this morning, and being ready to go too soon.  It also probably didn’t help that I was a wee perturbed by the fact that , because I waited for the boss, I got home later than expected, and missed out on getting tickets to see Elton John, because he sold out before I could get online, ten minutes after they went on sale by the way.  Attitude is everything in sales, and if I was unwittingly exuding frustration when I walked into the store, I may have shot myself in the damn foot, before I even opened my mouth.  Lesson learned.  Even after taking a break when my attitude started to ferment, I only managed to do half of what I needed to do to make up for yesterday, and get today covered.

Now, I am generally a pretty strong person, and the crazies don’t usually get to me, but I can only take the slowness, and the negative responses for just so long, and then I throw in the towel.  As a result of aiming for the hamper today, I will need to suck it up and go into a store and do 8 more applications to finish off my week.  Am I bummed by that….yes, a bit, but had I stayed, someone might have worn that clipboard, and I am not sure I can get another job making the money I make, working only 3-4 hours a day.  I work around hair appointments, nail appointments, blogtalk radio shows by great authors, and I am even on my way out to a massage, and getting a full set of mink eyelashes next week.  I really can’t justify complaining TOO much, except to say, that this is my forum to do that when I feel like I need to, and my readers are always warned to be cautious when proceeding, so that is my justification, if one is needed!

Yes…I feel better! xo