In the summer of 1988, for my summer job I was recruited by a fellow student at college to sell books door-to-door. She had done it the previous summer and made a lot of money. The books were educational types (though not encyclopedias, if you were wondering). I don't know why I thought I would be good at this job, but I did. The training lasted a week in Nashville, TN, which is where the company is headquartered. They called that week training; I now call it brainwashing. I still remember repeating things like, "Never go back to your headquarters during the day, " ad nauseum. It should have been a clue that this job was going to be hard, as in really hard. Mentally hard. Physically hard. Okay... hard in every possible way.
About twenty other students from my school, and an equal number from a college in Louisiana and Tennesse combined, road-tripped out to Colorado where we would be selling. I ended up living with a family in Littleton, Colorado. Their daughter was selling books for the same company in West Virginia. Not long after we arrived, it came to me that they moved you as far from home as possible to deter you from quitting. It was a long ride home alone. Even so, the number of kids who quit was HIGH. Heck, I quit four times (at least) that first month. I about drove my mom crazy.
Anyway, I worked the job pretty much the way they intended for two weeks. I was exhausted, frustrated, and so many other things. Then the miracle happened. You won't see this coming... I got diarrhea. Yep, you read that right. And I had a reason to go back to my headquarters during the day. I couldn't work like that. It was sheer bliss. I have never been before ~ or will ever be ~ as thrilled to have diarrhea as I was that day. I got to REST... with the exception of the frequent trips to the bathroom. I remember Ann, my recruiter and direct supervisor, giving me grief at the end of the day when we did our nightly phone call reporting our sales. She was VERY ANGRY that I hadn't taken Immodium and gotten right back out there. Was she nuts? I hoped it would last another couple of days. Immodium shmodium. And that was the end of my relationship with Ann. I became someone that she simply couldn't deal with and that was fine with me.
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| At one of the many national parks we visited on a Sunday |
After I got over my Quit or Not To Quit and decided to stay, I decided
to work the job My Way. That meant I worked until I reached my Sales
Quota for the day and then I knocked off. I got to see a lot
of Colorado in my spare time AND kept my sanity.
In the end, there was just me and a French girl named Valerie living at my residence (aside from the family).
Valerie was one of the most laid-back people I'd ever met. I remember the boys yanking her chain one morning (rather, trying to yank her chain). I can't remember where she got this bicycle, but I know it was free or darn near. She learned to ride it carrying at 30 pound book bag on her shoulder and fell off repeatedly in the beginning, but she kept at it. At night, she'd lean it against the fence. No chain. No nothing. So, back to the boys and their prank... One morning they yell up the stairs, "Valerie, come quick. Someone's stolen your bike!"
She peeks around the door, waves her hand, and says, "Lucky girl."
They were so disappointed. No one took that bike...
I learned a lot that summer, but I got to see in action what a Type B (or C) personality looks like. Nothing phased Valerie.
I look back on this time and am astounded at the amount of growing and changing that happened in just one summer. You could say I was on a Rocky Mountain High...
In the end, there was just me and a French girl named Valerie living at my residence (aside from the family).
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| Valerie on the right and another friend (who quit) on the left |
Valerie was one of the most laid-back people I'd ever met. I remember the boys yanking her chain one morning (rather, trying to yank her chain). I can't remember where she got this bicycle, but I know it was free or darn near. She learned to ride it carrying at 30 pound book bag on her shoulder and fell off repeatedly in the beginning, but she kept at it. At night, she'd lean it against the fence. No chain. No nothing. So, back to the boys and their prank... One morning they yell up the stairs, "Valerie, come quick. Someone's stolen your bike!"
She peeks around the door, waves her hand, and says, "Lucky girl."
They were so disappointed. No one took that bike...
I learned a lot that summer, but I got to see in action what a Type B (or C) personality looks like. Nothing phased Valerie.
I look back on this time and am astounded at the amount of growing and changing that happened in just one summer. You could say I was on a Rocky Mountain High...
Have you ever had a job that was just really hard? Did it burn you out? Or maybe just a summer job that was really bizarre that you wanted to quit? Have you ever met someone like Valerie (or maybe you are someone like Valerie!)?
If you're enjoying these posts, feel free to share your own Soundtrack. This isn't a hop. No requirements at all, but a suggestion to do it one song at a time. (If you participated in the hop several years ago, you can still do this. Just post them one song at a time, with the freedom to add more songs if you'd like.) I'll link to all participants at the bottom of each of these posts:
StMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS
Cherdo on the Flipside
Holli's Hoots and Hollers
THE DOGLADY'S DEN
What great memories, and what a time that must have been, really nice photos and story. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!
DeleteHoly Crap (pun intended), some kids I knew from college got roped into that same book selling job. One girl loved it and really performed well. Others I knew thought it was "cult like" and quit. Today when those same book salesmen come to my door, I feel so sorry for them.
ReplyDeleteHere's the thing: both sets of people were right. It's a great job if you have a gift for sales. It's also very "cult like" because it's super hard. It's funny how both parties were absolutely right. Goes to show that two opposite ideas CAN be true.
DeleteI don't think I ever had a job like that! And I think I would've wanted to punch Ann.
ReplyDeleteShe was never my favorite person from that moment on. Of course, that would be a whole other blog bit.
DeleteWOW! I've never heard of that book selling job or quite frankly I would have applied. I am all about visiting other states especially when I was young in college.
ReplyDeleteI worked for my dad a couple of summers ( he owned his own carpet cleaning business) and he was tough on me because he didn't want people to think I get special favors being his kid.
I also worked for a video store chain and did ok there. At the same time I was a hostess at a steak house in downtown Dallas for a few years. Finally, after being a hostess I realized the real money was waitressing. I enjoyed all my jobs I guess.
I've always been a worker. I hosted at 2 different restaurants one summer. One for the morning and lunch shift and then had a few hours break before I went to the steakhouse.
Good for you for figuring out what it took to get the job done and still enjoy your summer sight seeing a different state.
Well, my group didn't go anywhere other than Colorado, where we spent the entire summer. On Sundays (the only day designated for not working), we'd get together as a group and do something together. Mostly, it was fun (but, for me, exhausting). We went white rafting once. We went to state parks all over the state. It was nice seeing other people who were doing what you were doing.
DeleteI realize now my immune system was very compromised even then. I needed sleep and lots of it. The pace of that job (the way they intended you to do it) was simply way beyond me. Hence, the diarrhea. After that, I slept in until 8:00 (or later!) because I didn't want to knock on anyone's door at eight in the morning (and felt sure they felt the same way!).
What I ultimately learned from that summer (though I didn't really get it at the time) was that I'm really good at sales. If I'd had the ability to work as many hours as they wanted I probably would've made a whole lotta money. As it was, I made enough money to make me happy (and fund my next year of college expenses). BUT, I could've made more. One of the other managers said to me, "You made more dollars per hour than anyone out here. Just imagine what you could've made had you actually worked all day." And I said, "True. But it would've been miserable for me. I'd have been sick all the time. Or work a week. Sick a week. This was better. Plus, I saw places and had fun."
Hi, dear Robin! Diarrhea? Vomiting in the bushes? I'm starting to think you might be my soul mate! :) For a year I had a job in a high pressure sales environment. It involved cold calling (everybody's favorite thing). The objective was to get the suckers... uh... I mean the customers through the door of a catalog/direct from the manufacturer furniture showroom in hopes of closing the deal person to person. The weasel I worked for was a slave driver. He monitored and recorded the sales reps' cold calls and critiqued them at the end of the shift. If he didn't like what he heard he ripped you a new one. When a group of suckers... uh... I mean customers gathered at the showroom on the designated date and time, the boss delivered an introductory speech/presentation to warm them up before turning us loose on them to make the sale. The speech was exactly the same week after week. There were scripted parts for the account execs. We were required to laugh loudly at certain points of the speech and "spontaneously" shout key words and phrases at him (as in heckling) so that he could appear clever and put us down with a witty comeback. After going through that same bogus routine week after week I was so over it. I started out as the top seller of the bunch, the one "the master" believed had the greatest potential to be a top sales pro, but I soon burned out. I simply could not remain congruent about hoodwinking people to make a living.
ReplyDeleteI wish you a safe and happy weekend, dear friend Robin!
I've heard about the job you're describing. In point of fact, I experienced something similar later on (we're getting there!). I think it's all part of the learning process. When you know generally what you want to do, you end up working jobs that are near the barn (out in the field somewhere), but not in the barn (your wheelhouse). Each of those bad jobs helps you define what you don't want in a job.
DeleteIn some ways I'm a little like Valerie. I tend to think everything is fixable or that it can be dealt with.
ReplyDeleteI love Colorado. All my summer jobs as a kid were at home on the family farm. Long hours, sometimes 18 hours per day, but they were with family so it was okay.
Susan Says
Knowing OTHER things Valerie did, I can say with confidence you're only a LITTLE like Valerie. There are not many people I've met who worry about so little. I wish I could be more like Valerie in some ways, but in other ways... I think she sometimes didn't worry enough!
DeleteI have had those kids show up at my door periodically trying to get me to buy those books! Poor things! I am not a Valerie in any way, shape, or form. I am 100% Type A. I love the idea of becoming a Valerie. Thanks for sharing your song. Love John Denver!
ReplyDeleteI've never had one of them show up at my door. I'd invite them in and offer a cold drink. Then we could share experience stories!
DeleteI'm Type A, too...
Thankfully I was too shy to take a job like that. Although, as Holli said, the travel woulda been neat. At least, when I was free of dysentery...
ReplyDeleteI don't think other people reacted like I did. It was just a whole lotta stress for my system (and we've all figured out by now that I don't do real when I hit stress overload).
DeleteWow! It's hard to believe that books (ANY kind of books) were still being sold door-to-door as late as 1988.
ReplyDeleteThis is easily my very favorite John Denver song! I used to like some of his stuffs back in the LP era and owned a 'Greatest Hits' album. I remember Torch once mentioning this song to me while we were all cruising North on the Pacific Coast Highway one day. Good song, good memories.
Believe it or not, I'm actually kind of laid back, but Valerie has me beat big time in that regard. If I thought someone had stolen MY bike? Whoa! Look out!...
It was good to hear this song again after so long. Played it twice.
~ D-FensDogG
'Loyal American Underground'
In 1988 the Internet wasn't even a thing yet. In fact, most word processing programs were only slowly becoming popular. Some kids at my college still used a typewriter for their papers. I didn't have a computer, but there was a basement in the dorms and various computer centers across campus with a very basic word processing system on it. Not Word. Not WordPerfect. I don't even know what it is. It didn't have many options/functions. But, it was better than a typewriter!
DeleteSo, books were still relevant in 1988. There were educational type books designed to help parents help kids with their homework. Even then, math--in particular--was changing and "new math" had parents doing backflips. Of course, that version of "new math" doesn't compare to the idiocy of Common Core. So, parents are still pulling their hair out. I guess Common Core has created yet another market (niche) for this book selling company to fill!
Valerie has everyone I've ever known beat in terms of being laid back. Everyone.
Glad you liked the song!
You did it Your Way, baby. You didn't do it like Frank or Sid or Elvis. It was Robin all the Way. Not taking Immodium was the right thing to do, medically. Diarrhea carries bacteria and crap out of your body. Stopping it by something other than a natural method keeps all the junk inside you. I've had some jobs that were so bad you wouldn't believe it. Some got better. Most got worse. I'm a Type A. *hangs head in shame* It's difficult for me to relax if something needs to be done. My parents would not have allowed me to take a job like that, however.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie, Frank, Sid, and Elvis
Janie and the Gang,
DeleteYep. I did it in such a way that I could do the job and keep my sanity. It was an either/or proposition.
I'm enough of a Type A person that I worked until I was satisfied with the result.
My mom wasn't crazy about this job. Especially since each time I quit I called to tell her I was coming home (and to ask her if she could get my old job back), which she would, and then I'd decide to stay. And then quit again. The last time I told her I was staying, she said, "Good, because I'm not asking after your old job again!" I do feel badly about putting her through that wringer.
Ahh, Love Janie is SO right! There's a reason for diarrhea! The body is using its natural self-defense mechanism to rid itself of some poison.
ReplyDeleteSame thing as when you vomit alcohol (while some nice guy holds your hair back for you). The body is saying: "Out! Out, you damned poison!"
God knew what He was doing when He designed us.
Oops! I mean... "the universe" knew what it was doing when it "evolved" us. (There, that should work for all the New Agers as well as the Darwinists and neo-Darwinists... or whatever name those retards are using for themselves today.)
~ D-FensDogG
I think the diarrhea was stress induced vs a bacterial problem. But, it was my body screaming out a message. I believe that. I heeded it. I got more sleep, relaxed more, did the job in a way that made me HAPPY.
DeleteThe body will tell you everything you need to know. You only need listen.
Immodium shmodium amen. ann cared more about money than about people.
ReplyDeleteI suspect Ann felt very pressured to get a good result and she had people quitting every other day. She was stressed. That doesn't completely make it right, but we must remember she was just a kid. My age. Not the best at decision-making or diplomacy.
DeleteThat said, we still didn't talk much the rest of the summer. And she never called me for a daily sales report! ha!
She was a kid.... Ah, I see. Now, why did I miss that? Silly me.
DeleteYou probably missed it because I wasn't clear, but everyone out there that summer were college students. All the big guns (as in adults) kept their behind in Corporate. You know, where it's cool and there's a desk and all that jazz.
DeleteI'm impressed that you got through this, on your own terms. I would have crashed and burned on day one.
ReplyDeleteMany people did, Liza. MANY people. It was a super hard job.
DeleteI think more people could learn from Valerie. Your job sounds typical of that type of job but that supervisor liked too much power. Take an Imodium?? Really? Glad you figured out how to deal with that job. I took a job and lasted 1 day-It was to clean the washrooms at Marineland. After being told all the disgusting things women do in the washroom and what they had to clean up plus a girl looking down her nose at me because she had a higher ranking job of selling candy floss AND finding out I had to pay for my uniform and all, I thought "to hell with this!" I am not a type A at all but I can easily be fooled so those boys would have received the right reaction from me.
ReplyDeletePerhaps some day we'll revisit Valerie (when I'm running low on blog material) and I can tell some other stories. She was a hoot.
DeleteThe boys would have totally gotten ME if the roles had been reversed. In fact, I do believe I felt a twinge of anxiety on behalf of Valerie before the guys revealed the bike was still there. Ha!
This was exactly what I needed to read! Thank you so much Robin. I have been having a few 'should I stay or should I go' moments on this current adventure!
ReplyDeleteChanzie @ Mean Who You Are.
Well, I don't know if this makes you lean toward staying to going, but I think you should listen to your heart/body. So many situations don't allow for you to do it "your way," and thus leaving becoming the only option. However, if it feels like the healthy thing is staying, then that is what you should do!
DeleteMy current job? Challenging and rewarding....cause I like to win....you should have shit in their van..that would be the last time they tried to make you work while sick.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should have mailed Ann a sample. What do you think? hahahaha.
DeleteHey, I had no idea you spent a summer here (here being relative of course - Littleton is only about 20 minutes away).
ReplyDeleteToo bad it was under such crappy (pun intended) conditions.
I once knew a girl who quit her full time IT job to become a vacuum salesman. They're $2-4,000 vacuums, mind you (Rainbow vacs), but they sucker people into selling them by saying "You only have to sell one a week!"
Uh, yeah, and how many people do you think are going to buy a vacuum worth more than their car in some cases?
She asked us if she could do a demonstration for us as a "test" before going live, and that her manager would come just to make sure she was doing okay. Yeah, it wasn't a test. She practically cried when we said we weren't going to buy a GD $4,000 vacuum. Never saw her again after that, and according to Facebook she has no job and is living with her mom.
Whomp whomp.
WELL... I'm not sure where to begin. The job wasn't so bad once I got past the diarrhea and their crazy rules. I made a lot of money that summer and was good at it.
DeleteThat girl should never have quit her job to sell Rainbow vacuum cleaners full time. I bought a used Rainbow back in the late 90s after a friend of mine bought one in the early 90s. We both suffer from allergies and that vacuum is a bit like a gift from God. I really wanted one, but couldn't afford a new one.
Then in the mid-2000s a person we know referred us for a demo (I had one already...old, but highly functional). Anyway, the new one was awesome, and they gave me a discount on the trade. I decided to sell Rainbows part time. I sold a few... mostly made enough to make up the difference of what I shelled out on my new one. I might've continued with it, but my life got really crazy with my then-husband, his kids moving in, the migraines... It all just got be too much.
But, I can't imagine quitting your job to do it full time. That is a high end product that I believe in 100%. Aside from the living things in my home and my thumb drive with my writing, the next thing I'd pull out of my burning home would be my Rainbow. We are really close!
All that aside, I'm really sorry that your friend went through that (and brought you into it). Sales is NOT for everyone. Door to door sales is the hardest kind of selling there is. Hands down. Even if you have an EXCELLENT product.