Charles Gordon worked for a sales company with a high profit turn around. He struggled every week to make the sales quota he was given by his boss. Charles was worried that one of these weeks he wouldn’t make it and get fired. And his boss was a scary and somewhat intimidating man too.
It was the first week in October and the beginning of holiday selling. Charles was given a list with an extra five sales added to it and was expected to have them all by the end of the month. How am I supposed to get fifty sales in a month, Charles thought.
Charles heard some rumors from a few of his co-workers about what happens if you don't meet the quotas given to you. Of course Charles didn't believe most of the rumors. But his friend Jackie had told him that she heard a former employee was instructed by the company to move out of the city because she just quit one day. He also heard that over the years a few lower scaled employees even disappeared. This worried Charles immensely.
The end of the first two weeks Charles managed to get twelve sales. He was still keeping up with his weekly mark but was getting frustrated. He decided to take a break in the office lunchroom where he was able to talk to Dillon his co-worker about selling techniques. Charles knew that Dillon was in the top ten of the companies sales people.
"Hi Dillon," Charles said as he walked over to the coffee pot.
"Hey Charles how's it going? Dillon said as he looked up from his cell phone.
Charles turned around with his cup of coffee, "Dillon, do you have a selling tip that you can share with me? I'm not sure if I can get fifty sales by the end of the month."
Dillon looked at Charles and smirked, "Charles, if I handed out all of my secrets, I wouldn't be one of the top salesmen now would I?"
Charles looked down into his coffee cup, "no, I guess not."
Dillon got up from the chair that he was sitting in, "look Charles, you have to play a part with people. You have to convince the possible client that they can't live without our products. Even if you don't believe in the products yourself, you have love them to get your client."
"But that's like living a lie," Charles said.
"It’s either lie or die," Dillon said and then walked out of the lunchroom.
Charles stood there and thought while he finished his coffee. He didn't want to lie to innocent people, but he didn't want to be without a job either. Charles went to his cubicle and grabbed his list of possible clients.
"Where are you going Charles?" Kelly his other co-worker asked him.
"I'm going to talk to these people in person if possible," Charles said.
"Well, good luck with that," she said.
Charles found out after a few forceful no's, that talking to people face to face wasn't easy especially when you honestly didn't believe in the product yourself. And then since it was Halloween month, Charles met some individuals with some very bizarre decorating taste. One couple had skeletons of many different creatures all over their house. While another person had a small but real bubbling cauldron on their coffee table filled with something very stinky.
Later that afternoon Charles felt defeated as he climbed into his car. He had only gotten one sale out of the five that he talked to. He decided to go back to the office after getting some lunch. Maybe I'm better at lieing over the phone, he thought.
Charles stopped at a chicken place and got a chicken sandwich to go. When he walked back into his office building, he saw his boss walking towards him.
"Mr. Gordon, I would like to see you in my office when I get back from my lunch," Mr. Bitmon said.
"Okay Mr. Bitmon. See you later."
Oh my, what does he want to talk to me about, Charles thought as he walked to the elevator. As Charles waited for the elevator, he had only two thoughts in his mind, being fired and his family. I don't think he's going to fire me. I haven't done anything wrong yet, he thought.
When Charles got back to his desk, he sat down and looked at his list. He already lost four possible clients today. He knew that he needed to get at least three more today in order to get back on track. So, he cleared his throat and picked up the phone. Charles tried to convince the person on the other end of the call but couldn’t.
"Okay, if I want to keep this job, I have to be convincing," Charles said to himself.
"Hi Charles, how did it go out there this morning?" Kelly asked him.
"Not so good, I only got one."
"Oh I'm sorry. Oh, by the way, Mr. Bitmon was looking for you," Kelly said.
"Yeah, I saw him when he was leaving for lunch. Did he say why he wanted to see me?" Charles asked.
"No, he paged you and because you didn't go in, he then paged me."
"Oh, what did you tell him?"
"I told him that you were going to sell face to face, just like you said."
"Oh okay. Thank you Kelly," Charles said.
Charles now feared that maybe Mr. Bitmon didn't like the idea of him going to the peoples homes to sell. Maybe I will be fired now, he thought. Charles tried to shake off the worry and he straightened his tie. He called the next person on his list and talked to her for about fifteen minutes. He tried to lie about how she would benefit from their products but the lady sounded so sweet and innocent that he just couldn't sign her up.
"Okay ma'am you too, thank you, and have a wonderful day," Charles hung up the phone.
I just can't do it, Charles thought.
After an hour had gone by, Charles heard Mr. Bitmon call his name over the loud speaker. Charles took a deep breath and exhaled. He got up and walked down the long hallway to his bosses office. Before he knocked on the door, he tried to prepare himself mentally. Not many people were paged to the bosses office for something good. So, Charles knocked on the door and waited only a few seconds before his boss told him to come in.
"Mr. Gordon, please have a seat."
Charles sat down in the chair across from his bosses desk and then felt his body start to quiver.
"Mr. Gordon, you have been with my company for six months now. You were hired because your sales record in the past was impressive. But here you barely make the expected quota each month. Why are you no longer impressing me?"
Charles felt the sweat form on his forehead as he tried to think of a quick answer, "well sir, I know that in the past I enjoyed talking about the products that I was selling, but here it's harder for me."
Mr. Bitmon scowled but then tried to understand before he spoke again.
Mr. Gordon, everyone dies eventually right?"
"Yes sir," Charles said.
"And I realize that not everyone deserves to enter into my world. But hell is a decent place to spend eternity. Everyone who is alive seems to retire to places with hot climates anyway so why not hell?" Mr. Bitmon explained.
Charles swallowed hard, "sir, if I may say, I honestly wouldn't want to spend my eternity down there. I would rather feel free and light and go to heaven like many others."
Charles then tightly gripped onto the arms of the chair. It took all his courage to say that to Mr. Bitmon.
Mr Bitmons face turned red with anger and then he quickly cracked a big grin, "well, Mr. Gordon, if you strongly feel that way, then there is no reason for you to work here any longer."
Charles was afraid of that and feared for his life now. After all the different rumors that he heard, he was scared that Mr. Bitmon was going to kill him. Instead, Mr. Bitmon opened up a drawer of his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper.
"This here paper states that because you no longer work for me, that by no means can you use any of the client lists that you were given while employed here for your own benefit. Do you understand?" Mr. Bitmon said.
Charles was a bit confused, "um, yes sir. I will not take any of those lists with me."
"Very well then, you are dismissed."
Charles slowly got up from the chair and felt somewhat at ease but still unsure, "thank you Mr. Bitmon."
Charles left his bosses office and went to his cubicle to get his briefcase. He said goodbye to Kelly and a couple other co-workers he occasionally talked with. When he left and stepped into the elevator, him and two other people fell to their death because the elevator cables broke.
It just goes to show, don't ever do any work for the devil.
The End
Definitely don't work for the devil !!!!