I should have been fired. Yesterday and today. Yesterday I signed up a whole family in a group plan. I charged them the incorrect price and my manager had to take $50 off each phone to accomodate my promises.
Today that family came back because there were so many errors in their plan that they couldn't function with the equipment I sold to them. They wanted to cancel everything. It was horrible. They talked to the manager and he retained them as customers, made everything better and apologized. He explained that I was new and was not trained enough. It was embarrassing.
In the meantime, a brand new customer came in and approached me for a sleek peice of equipment, and after going over the potential plan a couple of times, I attempted to sign her up. Guess what? That application came back with an error message after I had determined the plan and entered all her information! Turns out if you leave your application for 3 minutes or longer, it boots you out and you have to start again or call in to the network. Aaargh! I was waiting to get my manager's help with the girl while he was finishing with the family. He turned to me with The Stern Look of Death and shook his head. So that is why I was waiting. He finished with the family and sent them on their way, thanking them. I also thanked them, but the mother gave me The Look of Death. My manager came and fixed the girl's plan by calling in to a network and explaining the details. He thanked her, sent her on her way. On her way out, she came to me and thanked me and said she will be back when she needs us. He walked past me and stood in the doorway of the store looking down, shaking his head and walked off. He didn't tell me where he was going, but I bet he was so frustrated, I thought he was going to punch something.
He came back and asked me to take a walk. I made sure he didn't have a gun first. And no axe, hammer, poison or crossbow. He sat me at a table in the food court and apologized to me for not giving me enough training. My jaw dropped. I thought he was going to fire me for going too fast and not getting help. At that moment, I thought to myself what a great manager to realize and admit his shortcomings.
I He pointed at me and said (in his thick accent), "You! You can sell! But I will NOT have you selling s*%^ and lying to people without knowing it! My life is based on my honest reputation and you are ruining it! We know you can sell, but from now on, you are only going to observe. And once you are trained up properly, I am going to make a lot of money off you." At that moment, I thought to myself, what a greedy little man. Thing is, when I came back, and asked questions, he told me I should know already. I feel like screaming at him and asking how I should know. He looked me in the eye and said that I need to think more accurately about what questions to ask. How frustrating. My heart was in my throat the rest of the day and I didn't really ask a lot of questions, just tried to observe a lot. But I need to work hands on, that is the best way of learning.
The good news is, I can sell. If I get fired, I can get another sales job. And another. And another. I keep thinking of that episode of The Office where Micheal makes his own company and then enter into negotiations with Dunder Mifflin and he tells them he will just start another company. And another. And another. It's inspirational, but I don't want to keep finding another and another job after job. And it won't solve this current problem if I keep hopping. I need more training.
I vote you just ask him how you're supposed to know this stuff already. Then tell him you don't appreciate those comments because they're not helpful and waste time for both of you.
ReplyDeleteI have already gone round with him quite a bit. No more. I am just going to learn what I need to learn. And not from him. From someone else who is helpful and supportive. Thank God I can do online training at home!
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