Some of you may know of my 'amazing' history of summer jobs. All of them were funny and terrible. However, the most mysterious, and confusing of these jobs was surely the time I spent doing sales for a shady third party marketing company called Prime 1 promotions, in Toronto. This was a peach people! Purely commission, purely ridiculous. Naturally, I didn't give a shit about the job. I was too busy enjoying the ride. Also, I knew the experience would be great for building character. They give everyone a chance to sell, so I nailed the interview. lol. They told me to show up wearing dress pants and a tie. Some people there were really into it. Lots of sales practice and quoting 'sales' films was the daily ritual at the office. Unfortunately, there was always the overwhelming smell of 'bullshit' in the office. The sales were so tough to close. We were pitching small biz internet and phone lines for Rogers. Sounds like a great thing to sell...20 years ago. Also, everyone was jockeying for the best 'turf'. Knowing that the odds were against you, we would venture out into the city with dollar signs in our eyes. Anyways, I killed it the first week! I made around $600, and had hope. That's when things started to fall apart. I quickly grew tired of listening to these sales people lecture us everyday. Plus, it got hot outside! lol. I must have gone insane after the 1000th or so rejections I absorbed. I started to increase my break times to about 80% of the working day. I spent a lot of time in cafe writing about the job misery and the stupid things that people said each day. (ask me to see them sometime!)
Halfway though the summer, my good friend Brendan joined me (for whatever reason) out in the field. I was thrilled. I just wanted have fun and create some good memories talking to crazy people. It was clear the he and I were not natural salesmen. However, we could close some deals if we really wanted to. At the end of the day, just canvasing the business' of Toronto's toughest areas was enough of a trip for us. So many CRAZIES!
Fuck sales man! Since those times, I've been privy to many pitches on the new pyramid scheme at the time. The sales people are always the same. Just a bunch a shit-bots. "You'll make a fortune", "It's not a pyramid, I swear! It just resemble a pyramid in every conceivable fashion, but it isn't one!". With that being said, it is very interesting to have been on both sides of the game. Now, who wants to buy this blog from me? *barfs*
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