Empty the Trash
Not to brag, but I can say from experience that thinking outside the box, and being giving in service to others gets one ahead in life for sure...I once applied for a job at a home improvement sales office, and came in with a suit and tie, and everyone else was in Class B and C clothes....even T's and jeans....It was hot and we were all told to wait to be interviewed for the telemarketing job....I didnt really want that job, I wanted a sales job....Everyone else looked like they had a 'wet dish rag" attitude....limp and tired...and all the sudden I noticed that all the trashes in the offices were full to overflowing, and even on the floor...
I went to each office....shook hands and introduced myself quickly with a handshake and offered to take the trash out to the dumpster....They all accepted Thankfully and Graciously, maybe even a little embarrassed....and I got the telemarketing job, and kept on emptying the trashes....until that first week, the Boss came in the call office and asked me"...OK, Steve, What Do You want...?" I told him I wanted a sales job, and he asked me into his office and gave me the job, and I went to the sales class...and went out and sold a $13,000 window replacement job.....on my first call!
That story has always been in my mind how easy it is to stick out in the crowd of mediocrity with just a little enthusiasm and self belief! Amen !
I went to each office....shook hands and introduced myself quickly with a handshake and offered to take the trash out to the dumpster....They all accepted Thankfully and Graciously, maybe even a little embarrassed....and I got the telemarketing job, and kept on emptying the trashes....until that first week, the Boss came in the call office and asked me"...OK, Steve, What Do You want...?" I told him I wanted a sales job, and he asked me into his office and gave me the job, and I went to the sales class...and went out and sold a $13,000 window replacement job.....on my first call!
That story has always been in my mind how easy it is to stick out in the crowd of mediocrity with just a little enthusiasm and self belief! Amen !
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The Suit & Tie
I moved from Natick to Boston when I was starting out, and I needed a job....I put on a tie and suit and went out to Filenes and Bloomingdales, etc...because I had experience in Shipping and Receiving....It was the hottest day of the year so far, and I returned to my new street, and thought Id get a cold drink and a lunch at the corner diner.... I was weary from the heat....
So I was talking to the owner behind the counter and he asked me what I was doing that day...and I replied...."I'm looking for a job...." He then asked me a few more questions and hired me on the spot to work the graveyard shift for all the bars that got out at around 1:00 AM....Id never worked in a diner, but I prepped, cooked, took orders, bussed tables and ran the register, and put up with drunks and city people from 11 to 7 AM....
I moved from Natick to Boston when I was starting out, and I needed a job....I put on a tie and suit and went out to Filenes and Bloomingdales, etc...because I had experience in Shipping and Receiving....It was the hottest day of the year so far, and I returned to my new street, and thought Id get a cold drink and a lunch at the corner diner.... I was weary from the heat....
So I was talking to the owner behind the counter and he asked me what I was doing that day...and I replied...."I'm looking for a job...." He then asked me a few more questions and hired me on the spot to work the graveyard shift for all the bars that got out at around 1:00 AM....Id never worked in a diner, but I prepped, cooked, took orders, bussed tables and ran the register, and put up with drunks and city people from 11 to 7 AM....
One day the Boss and I were working together, and I asked him why he hired me, seein as I never really had any experience cooking for the public, to which he replied, "....because no one ever came looking for a job with a suit and tie !"......I realized he thought that I was telling him that I was applying at his store when he asked me what I was doing that day, and that he didn't know I was just getting food there , hungry from applying at other jobs!
Wow!
That really showed me that first appearances REALLY DO MATTER, and that Clothes Do Make The Man! Dont they? Again, it doesnt take much, really, to stand out and make a difference in branding yourself head and shoulders above mediocrity !
Stephen S
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