I worked at that grocery store for two years. Now I was sixteen. That was the age that I couldn’t wait to get too. I got my drivers license. I now thought I was a big shot!
I applied for a new job working at a large chain super market. After a couple of months of being persistent and checking on my application every week I got the job. More pay, $1.45 and hour.
At first it was only a few days a week and I was still trying to save some of my money. I had a few friends that got cars when they were sixteen, but my father was set in his ways. He thought I would get into trouble end up quitting school just for a car. He even promised me a car if I graduated from high school.
Well I really wanted to earn a lot of money so I could buy a car for myself. I saved up $800.00 and went (without dads knowing) and bought a motor cycle instead. After all he never said anything about a motor cycle. By now I was really getting on my fathers nerves. I know now that a lot arguments and headaches that I caused my folks were my fault. Gone to school all day, working after school, smoking and generally becoming a big shot pain in the butt. I stayed out past my curfew a lot, my thinking I suppose was that if I was already late I would go through the same pain, might as well stay out a little longer. By working at the big super market I made friends with fellows older then me. I didn’t want anyone thinking I was a kid, after all I acted like a big shot.
Working at the store just didn’t seem right. I mean being stuck in one place all the time, I just felt I had to be out and about. One day I was reading the help wanted section of the news paper and I came a cross a chance to sell vacuum cleaners. So I wanted to see what my mother thought. She told me it wouldn’t be easy and that maybe I should stick to what I had been doing. I told her that I really wanted to try and see it I could do it. I promised that I would not quit my job at the store. I think that she thought it was more than I could handle.
The next day after school, my mother gave me a ride to office where the company was. This was the newest and most innovative vacuum cleaner made. I went inside and there were some folding chairs set up classroom style. Most of the seats were full, and I was the youngest person there by far.
A gentleman came before us and started the meeting. He said that he was going to give us an overview of the company and what the product was. He assured us that this was indeed a sales position 100% commission. He started by showing the product and all of its great features. He demonstrated the product and had me, a sixteen year old, convinced that this was the best vacuum cleaner ever made. He told us of the company that started in 1929 with the invention of the greatest vacuum cleaner made, and the the company started mass producing the cleaner in 1936.
This great vacuum cleaner was put out and called Rainbow. This vacuum cleaner was different than any other vacuum out there. It had no conventional filter bag, it was filtered with water, H2o! He proceeded to show us how to demonstrate the cleaner. He put dirt down on some of the carpet, ground it in with his foot, poured coffee on the dirt. Man what a mess I didn’t think it would come clean, but it sure did. He lifted off the top of the Rainbow and all of the dirt was in the tank of water. I was convinced that it was the best vacuum cleaner in the world.
After the demonstration a lot of the other folks left and there were just a few of us there. Now came the price that we have to sell it for, $300.00, or something like that. There would be prizes for sales at different levels. and then of course the commission part. For every nine you sold you got the tenth one free, which meant you had to sell the tenth one to make your pay. That was 10%.
Now, I’m here to tell you that selling one vacuum at $300.00 was going to be a challenge. Especially in 1969! How in the world was I going to do that. Let alone sell ten. Well wouldn’t you know it, I had to make a list of family and friends to start. Sounds familiar? IT was the very first thing my mother taught me back when I was going to sell flower seeds when I was eight years old.
I guess a list of my friends folks would be a good place to start. I started my list with my best friend’s mother and father, And then listed the other friends and family by who I thought could afford such an expense. I also considered ones who would be nice to me. I guess now I was afraid of rejection. I know that the rejection wasn’t personnel, but still it was hard to take. I also thought about what my friends would say to afterward. Kid’s tend to be a little hard on others.
I completed the list along with the others at the meeting. The head salesman that led the meeting came over to me and asked to see the list. We talked for a while and he seemed impressed with my past sales experience. He told me that he wanted to work with me. He said that he would show how to close a deal. That was a new phrase for me. “Close a deal” and here I thought I was going to sell a vacuum cleaner.
He introduced himself as “BIG JIM” and he was big. He wore a nice suit, and his shoes were shiny. He told be that we were going to see my best friends folks first. He told me to call them up and see if it would be okay for us to come by and show them what I had to sell. To me it seemed kind of different to do it this way because before all I did was show up.
