I was consulting with a client on Thursday afternoon. This is quite the feat given how difficult my recovery from surgery has been. Just settling down into my desk chair has been a chore filled with pain, aching, and a multitude of tiny adjustments in order to get comfortable.
I was 15 minutes into the meeting when Charlie banged on my office door and told me that there was a man at the front door. I couldn’t believe it. Getting up and back down again was not going to be easy.
I excused myself, rose from the chair, and made my way over to the front door. Standing on my front stoop was a man with a clipboard.
I was already annoyed.
I pushed open the door with some effort, leaned out, and said, “Can I help you?”
He was a salesperson. H wanted to talk to me about installing solar panels on the roof of my house.
“I can’t talk,” I said. “I’m in a meeting. I’m recovering from surgery. I’m not interested.”
“Is there a better time for me to come back?” he asked.
“”No,” I said. “I’m not interested.”
“There’s really no better time for us to talk?”
I couldn’t believe it. Did I just hear what I thought I heard? Wrapped in an abdominal brace that he could clearly see, wincing in pain, pulled away from a client, I told this guy that I wasn’t interested in his solar panels, but he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“No,” I shot back. “There is no better time. There won’t ever be a better time. Get off my stoop and off my property. I may put solar panels on my roof someday, but it is now my mission in life to make sure that the last thing I do is put your company’s solar panels on my roof. Now get lost!”
Charlie heard most of the conversation, so as I gleefully fired back at this man, I was also taking note that I might need to clean this up with my son later on. Somehow correct the terrible example I had just set.
But here’s the crazy thing:
He came back. I was sitting on the couch yesterday, reading a book, when the doorbell rang. I was expecting an appliance repair person and a home inspector to stop by over the course of the day, so I assumed that it was one of these two people, but no.
It was him. Same guy. Smiling at me like nothing had happened the day before.
Once again, I had been forced to lift myself from of a semi-comfortable position and hobble over to the door, so my anger was off the charts when I saw him standing there with his clipboard and smile.
I opened the door and said, “I told you yesterday that there would never be a better time.”
“I just wanted to be sure,” he said. “People sometimes change their minds.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I have changed my mind. I thought you were just a pushy salesperson yesterday. Now I know that you’re a horrible, clueless human being.”
“Have a nice day,” he said and walked away.
This is the kind of person who gives salespeople a bad name. I despise that man.
Also, if I owned a company in need of a salesperson, I would hire that man in a heartbeat.
