Sales' ails...

The first few sentences of this post may seem academic. But I request the readers to bear through the same, for what follows further is in no way related to the text book, classes or anything in between.

The troubles faced by a salesman in any business are well-known. They are much greater, though, prior to his entering a firm. There is this Post-Graduate Sales Rep (referred to as SR, henceforth) I know of, who has been hunting for a job since the last month. He was lamenting about his not having landed a successful job yet. And if you ask me as to how an MBA would know a Sales Rep, well, understand thus much that I could, and I do!

The plot set,we now move ahead and detail the troubles faced by our SR.

1) A Sales Rep being asked to wait at the 7th floor of a building may be rest assured that the 7th floor would be a recreational room with:

a. One light – So black, that it would soon collapse into itself and form a black-hole, a la a star.
b. One ceiling fan – Which would have to be tapped twice at the wing, and thrice at the regulator to get it started off.
c. Windows all over – Shut for weeks together, such that spiders could build their Sheratons around it, replete with curved staircases and what not.
d. One carrom board – So old, that no further description is warranted.
e. A lot of dust, and chairs with more of the former.

2) SR waited, till he was called on for the interview. Questions flowed.

a. He was asked if working overtime leads to ‘efficiency’ or ‘inefficiency’ in an organization. – His reply was that the word (in)efficiency should be properly placed in its context, so that the discussion would become more fruitful.
b. Next, SR had a brain-wave. The cricket fan that he was, he said: “If you give more time to bowlers to bowl through their overs, they become lax. This, I think, is a perfect example of ‘working overtime' leading to inefficiencies!”
c. SR then touched on what could be termed a mathematical wonder. He discovered that the word ‘efficiency’ was a ratio of output to input. It would increase with an increase in the output, and interestingly, the input did not matter, it seemed. SR was pretty amused with himself when he said so. One would wonder whether the smile was a pat on his own back, or a smirk at being asked something so basic. One of the above, though, was surely conveyed to the interviewer.
d. The conclusion was that “remuneration” was the reason people preferred to work overtime. Instead of answering the interviewer's question, the conclusion proved him wrong!
e. SR was done with the interview. Apart from 'overtime', SR was asked to name the 7 continents of the world, and he exceeded expectations by naming 8, including ARCTICA!

3) By the way, SR was expected to sell everything. If you wanted an indicative list, it would include (but may never be limited to) chairs, radishes, rectifiers, pens (SR would sell this outside the country too, once in a month, for two weeks) etc.

Needless to say, SR didn’t get the above job either. But the sequence of events led me to ask him about it, one final time. I asked him if he really longed for the above job. At this, his frown disappeared, and out came a cunning smile. “No, I didn’t! All absurdities uttered were aimed at my not getting it!”

People and their ways...