The Soundtrack of My Life, A Good Time to Assume

I don't normally comment on "stat stuff," but I noticed that this is my 800th post on this blog. Can you believe it???

This is still the summer of 1988 and I'm still selling books door-to-door in Colorado. This was a revelatory sort of job for me, though I wouldn't understand the ramifications for years.

So, there were reasons I was successful at this door-to-door sales thing, and they were thus:

I memorized well and could deliver  the presentation conversationally, AND when I made my pitch I sold the whole set. I never broke it up because if they were going to buy, they would buy it ALL.  

I am not going to bore you with every sale I made ~ heck I can't remember every sale I made.

I vividly remember going up to this blue house on a cul de sac (would you believe that I can still picture this house but I can't remember some of the names of my good friends ~ egads) and the mother of the household answering. It was a Saturday (prime day). I gave her my get in the door pitch and she responded like this, "I would love to look at your books but my husband is TOO CHEAP (this thrown over the shoulder in a very loud voice for the said husband's benefit)! He is SO CHEAP that he does things like this.." At this precise moment her two children come out the front door carrying their bikes. "He makes our children carry their bikes out the door because he doesn't like the wear and tear on the garage door opener." Again, all of this was not directed to me, but to the invisible husband.

I backed up fast and said something like, "Well, this isn't a good time. I will come back later."  I hastily got out of Dodge and made a notation in my notebook.

That isn't the end of this story.   

I was back in this same neighborhood trying to eliminate everyone from my list as either buyers or not.  I found myself back on that same cul de sac, and that blue house was the only one that hadn't gone one way or the other.  I was having a Terrible Day and decided to nail the lid on the coffin by going back to that blue house. The husband answered the door, the wife wasn't home, and I honestly never expected to make it off the porch. Wonder of wonders.... I got in.  Normally, I wouldn't go into a home where just the husband was there, but the kids were in a room that was visible from the kitchen, and I felt okay with it.  He was nice.  However, I was still caught up in the Bike Incident of that Saturday and Intimidated.  I was so convinced that he WASN'T GOING TO BUY that I only showed him three books out of the set.  I departed from my usual pitch, because I made the decision for him about what he would and would not buy.  I was trying to minimize my time investment in the call.  Big mistake.  Huge.  I got done and he never even gave me a closing argument.  All he said was, "Do you take a credit card?"  

Holy crap.  Yes, I did.  And while he was getting his wallet I was mentally kicking myself down the street.  Never ever assume what your buyer will buy.  In fact, go into every sale assuming that they will buy.  You assume it and more often than not... they do.

Only later would I look back on this very successful summer at door-to-door sales and understand that sales is my Ideal Career Path.  If you can make money in door-to-door sales, which is the toughest gig  going, commission sales on consumable goods is a cakewalk .  

Not everyone in our group, but some... (click to enlarge)

Now, I don't have a song to go with this story, though it's a darn good story. However, I do have one more song that I think of when I think of that summer. My father said that the song Baby Blue came out that summer I was in Colorado, and whenever he heard it he thought of me. The way he said it I think it was kind of sad for him. That was not so long after he and my mom divorced, and instead of coming home I opted out entirely to move across the country to sell books. And then it was pretty much straight back to college. I spent very little time "at home," and he probably thought I was pretty much all but gone.

This one's for you, Dad!

Did you have a job that you thought was just a summer job or short-term job, but ending up pointing you towards your ultimate Career Path?  Or a job that you learned a lot of Life Lessons from even if you didn't stay in it forever? Is there a song that one of your parents thought of as "your song?"


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