Susan's Smile Was the Only Thing That Outshined the Bright Orange Color of Her Camaro...
Previously, Part 19: Baby Don't You Wanna Go To My Sweet Home Chicago?
It was a different experience for me, not leaving in the morning to catch a bus or train into New York City, as I had for four months during my showroom training.
When I took the train, Susan dropped me off early in the morning and picked me up early in the evening. There would no longer be long jaunts from the Port Authority to the office in the garment district, or long days confined to a showroom. I had become a territory sales guy, like Mike in Chicago. I had earned my independence and a chance to make a good living.
I worked tirelessly and scheduled sales calls with every Mom & Pop store that ever bought a stitch of clothing from Pandora Industries. I loaded the trunk in the Monte with samples and a new chrome folding, rolling rack, and began zigzagging my way across New Jersey to show the line, establish new accounts, and make sales. I was very determined to be a successful clothing salesman. And not just for me. For Susan and our future together as husband and wife.
We bought a low-mileage '76 Camaro at a used car lot in Jersey for Susan. It was bright orange with a white leather interior. Susan looked incredible behind the wheel. Susan's smile was the only thing that outshined the bright orange color of her car. It was her first car, and she was excited to own it.
Things were going pretty well until I started running into angry store owners. Their big complaint was, "Andy stuffed us full of goods and promised he'd take back anything we couldn't sell. Then he stopped picking up his calls, and we were stuck with goods we couldn't sell. We never want to do business with Pandora ever again!" Andy had done it to everyone, and it bolstered his sales numbers but destroyed the territory.
That's how Andy increased sales; making promises he never intended to keep. He sold enough goods that he looked great on paper, and he got a promotion before he had to deal with the mess he created. Now that I was the sales rep in his old territory, his mess became my mess, and cleaning it up wouldn't be easy…
Andy was a young, cocky New York salesman, six-foot-two, with a face like Jerry Seinfeld's, soft hands, and a manicure. He was a native New Yorker, and everything was a home game for him. I had a Boston accent and attitude, and no manicure. We had very little in common…
I tried to talk with David (sales manager) about what I was running into, but he didn't want to hear it. Andy was the poster boy for clothing sales at Pandora, and anything I told David fell upon deaf ears. He interpreted my explanation as an excuse, and he had probably heard them all. I was telling him the truth, something he probably never heard before.
I drove around the state, opened up new accounts to replace the ones Andy ruined, but it wasn't enough. I got a call from the showroom saying Sandy (the big boss) wanted to meet with me there. I was pretty sure he had forgotten all about the buzzer beater he saw me make nine years earlier, and that there was gonna be some tough love…
The moment I walked into his office, it felt different. Sandy's demeanor and body language indicated he was not happy. He began with, "So tell me, what's going on in New Jersey. The numbers are horrible."
I was careful explaining the reactions I was getting, and how Andy had made promises he didn't keep. But Andy was the company favorite, and no one, including Sandy, wanted to hear anything bad about him. He listened, but without any reaction.
Any explanation I gave wasn't gonna be good enough, and at one point during the meeting, I realized I was called in to be fired. And that's exactly what happened.
I took the bus home and waited in the apartment for Susan to return from work so I could tell her. I moved her from Massachusetts to Florida to New Jersey, and then I got my ass fired! I had no idea how she was gonna take it. I anticipated not well.
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We had only been married for seven months, and I felt awful, like I had let her down…
If I go crazy, then will you still call me Superman?If I'm alive and well, will you be there a-holding my hand?I'll keep you by my side with my superhuman mightKryptonite