It’s been awhile since we’ve checked in on Strange ReTales, and reminisced about examples of Employees Behaving Badly.

So I’ll take a break from posting semi-serious blogs and share a couple of reminiscences.

Good sales people share common traits. They typically include diligence, attention to detail, and a good work ethic.

Then there are those sales people who either lack those traits, or apply them incorrectly.

Years ago, we hired a young man named Jim who was mostly diligent and hard working. Unfortunately his attention to detail went a little overboard.

He had just bought, as young men often do, a really nice pickup truck: lift kit, lots of chrome. A very shiny truck.

There was just one problem.

He was nervous about leaving it parked in the mall parking lot.

WIthout exaggerating, in an OCD-like fashion Jim needed to leave the store every ten minutes to go check on his truck and make sure it was okay.

Obviously it’s very hard to sell stuff to customers if you’re doing that.

After he excused himself from a customer in the middle of a sale to go check on his truck, our manager very firmly suggested that he either a) start taking the bus, or b) go work somewhere else.

Too much work ethic can be a bad thing too, if it goes too far. No one can burn the candle at both ends, eventually you have to start prioritizing what you spend your time and energy on.

One such person was a salesperson named Boyd. He worked part-time for us, was a full time university student worked two jobs including the one with us, was a professional musician working gigs and, from what he told me, was very involved in volunteering in the community.

All that adds up to the kind of resume that graduate school admissions and corporate recruiters love to see.

It also takes a heavy toll. Boyd was exhausted.

Something had to give, and Boyd had to prioritize.

He decided to nip into the stockroom during his evening shifts with us, lay down on pallets of boxed electronics, and nap from 5 to 9pm.

Amazingly he got away with this for almost a week before anybody noticed. That was the end of his time with us, but like I said, he had other priorities.