So far my trip has been pretty low-key. Keeping in line with my relaxing work-week diet – last week I had no alcohol at all until the weekend. Yesterday I broke the rule and had two beers during dinner, and tonight I went “all out” (not really) and had a 1/2 pitcher of Sangria while dining at a Tapas restaurant.
The picture above is a screenshot from the local newspaper featuring Thomas (Julia’s dad) on its headline. What happened was that in December Thomas moved from one office to another, so he had registered with the telephone company MONTHS BEFORE to switch the old phone line to the new office once the move occurs, so his patients don’t get a busy tone when they call in.
The move went pretty smooth. The telephone line switch? A DISASTER from day one at the new office – the old phone line was instantly dropped once he moved out. Phone calls after phone calls to the telephone company just resulted in finger pointing (internally) back and forth, but somehow no one can pull the switch to restart his old line and forward to the new office number. Of all the technical advancements it simply takes a few F***-UPS on the human side to ruin everything.
On another note, I was sitting in Starbucks this afternoon checking email, in between customer calls, when I experienced a job-training of sorts at the table next to me. It was a 30+ year-old training a late-teenager on the “art of selling”. Five minutes was all that I needed to notice the BULL$*** in the trainer. His one line that triggered my “alarm” was ‘If anyone asks you if this is a pyramid scheme, tell them it SOUNDS LIKE ONE, BUT IT ISN’T”. Well if it smells like one, tastes like one, then IT IS ONE. He then spent ten minutes explaining to the young kid on his own special “tricks in selling insurance”, before suddenly telling his trainee to NAME THREE PEOPLE WHO THE KID THINKS HE CAN CONVERT TO INSURANCE SALESPEOPLE HIMSELF…
Maybe it takes a man in a upside-down triangle suit with the words GIZA across his face to notice, but the gullible one just kept listened on and fed his trainer the predator more information about himself. I couldn’t listen any more so I had to walk out of there… but decided to take a glance at the lamb idiot salesperson-in-training before I walked away.
The kid had nose/ear/face/lip rings all over the face (not exactly but you get the point). Here are some points on on-the-job training or interviews:
Lesson #1: Your interview / training should NEVER take place at a Starbucks. Unless you 1) work for Peet’s, or 2) you want to be this.
Lesson #2: If you are going to an insurance sales job-training or interview (besides one for a concert roadie for this guy). Take your face piercings off, hide your full-body tribal tattoos.
Lesson #3: Your interviewer/trainer should never dress more casual than you (face ring monster: dress shirt, khakis. pyramid-man: t-shirt and jeans)
Lesson #4: If you need another sign to notice a scam, you are an idiot. Your calling in life is working here.
Enough of this. I’m going home tomorrow 🙂