Seedy Sales

Sales is not exactly my forte, I have tried, really tried, why I thought it would be a good idea to buy a retail business is almost beyond me.

I liked the idea of helping Georges parents to be able to retire, and also the idea of not having a boss or co-workers apart from George, however I don't think that I fully thought through the whole process entirely.

I failed to imagine the calibre and demographic of our customers and their lack of education and etiquette, now I know that it takes all types and such things as education don't always account for the level of interpersonal skills that people possess. That no matter where you live, it is almost a certainty that you encounter unpleasantness from other people, but in our case things are not diluted because the population is so small so it seems unproportionally insane.

I lose a lot of customers/sales sometimes because I can mis read the situation or completely stuff it up in how I handle it.

All those little tricks that salesmen use, I just can't seem to get a handle on them, I am no smooth talker and I hate to rip anyone off, when we first started I had to remind myself that people actually went home with something they wanted, we weren't just taking their money, I know how hard I have had to work to get what money I have, yet some people just don't seem to have any concern for it and have no problem buying disgusting looking trinkets that don't actually do anything.

Which is interesting because when we buy things to sell in the shop, we don't buy what we would like, if we think it is revolting and tacky then it will sell.

Today a man came into the shop and wanted to borrow a pen, I told him he could buy one for 80 cents, he didn't like that at all, but I stuck to my guns and told him to go and borrow one from somewhere else because I sell pens, I don't lend them.

Had he approached the situation in a different way I would have been happy to lend him a pen, but his manner and tone when he asked me without even saying please, I wasn't prepared to be a good samaritan in turn for his rudeness, turned out I am the worst person in the world and now have a black mark against my name, because even though this guy was from away, he used to live here and knows everyone, in fact George even used to work for him, all over a pen.

So he was out in the street slandering me to everyone that would listen.

And I cried like a girl when no one could see me.

It's a tough game.