Many people hate their jobs. Some are stuck behind a computer all day. Some serve in restaurants where customers complain about the food. Others strive to meet quotas and goals, only to go through same repetitious pattern time and time again.
We all have reasons to dislike what we do for living.
I’ve tried a number of occupations, from collections to call centers, teacher to deli owner. I know I’ve attempted to take on too much in too short a time and have suffered as a result. Currently, I’m hoping to improve my sales skills with a local lawn care company.
We salesman routinely get doors slammed in our faces. We are screamed at. People run from us, won’t answer calls, or dodge us as if we’re carry some infectious plague. Yes, we take all of this, just to be salespeople.
However, recently I met lady in Middletown, where I learned another side of the job.
I had approached her with an offer to have technician out to care for her lawn. As we walked around to the back of her property, a look of confusion gave way to tears suddenly running down her face. Her husband – who had taken care of all the yard work – passed away in January.
“I just don’t know what to do,” she said, looking over her weed-filled lawn. “I don’t want to be taken advantage of…”
Suddenly, I didn’t want to be salesman any more, I only wanted to be her support to face a challenge like nothing I have ever been through.
I ended up staying on her porch for an hour that sunny afternoon. At the end of our conversation, she called me a God-send for showing up: she hadn’t been out of the front door in three months.
“Ma’am,” I said to her before I continued on my sales route, “Just trust that brighter days lay ahead.”
As I walked away from her property, questions ran through my head. Did I get the sale? Yes, in fact, I did. But this one meant more than the other five sales I got that afternoon.
I had helped a woman enjoy her property again, but I also like to think, in some small way, that I helped her move forward in life after suffering such a major loss, that I helped bring hope for better days within her reach …
Matt Berry is a Pike Creek native who says he has tried a few things, succeeded at some, failed at others, and is still looking for so much more. Come along as he comments on sports, business ventures and life lessons learned in his periodic column, Run with It.
