Some useless ramblings for you...

So today during a calm moment at work, I started perusing through today's Times-Argus and found an interesting little article about how there's this monster asteroid that is supposed to be passing uncomfortably close to the earth in the year 2029. Apparently NASA originally figured that there was a 1 in 45,000 chance that said asteroid was going to hit our planet in that year, but it seems a 13 year old German school boy checked their math and found out they got carried away and added a couple extra zeros. So make that 1 in 450. Speaking of checking math, I'd like to know how one source came up with some statistics saying I have a 1 in 26 chance of dying before the asteroid even gets here, while another one says I have a much more comfortable 1 in 1063 chance. hmm. One more reason to appreciate each day as it comes...

Quote of the week

"...not good at work if the boss can tell I think he's an idiot"

Advice?

So I just turned down a guaranteed $500 per week job in favor of my current job that pays $305 per week plus commission. So far my first 5 weeks as a car salesman have been $405, $405, $427, $505, and $405. I'm told it only gets worse from here, until things generally pick up in March... but who knows this year, what with the economy and all. On the other hand, that $500 per week job holds no potential for increase. So the question is, am I stupid? I think while it may be tougher in the short run, my decision to stay will reward me in the long run... but please leave your thoughts.

The Optimist

So I'm beginning to realize that becoming a car salesman is not just a new job, it is a new way of life. There is so much to learn that refusing to do any studying to improve my product knowledge and sales techniques after work in the evenings would put me at a serious disadvantage. Being new is already a serious disadvantage from what I've experienced/heard/read. So I certainly don't need two disadvantages. On top of that, the training videos I've watched and the sales books I'm reading all stress that the top successful salespeople always stay involved with their customers both before and after the sale, with phone calls, letters, and even attending social events with them. Joe Girard, who is believed to be the greatest salesman of all time, claims 65% of his sales every year were from repeat business, a fact he attributes to the effort he put into staying in touch with every client after the sale.

I'm not going to settle for second best...

Quote of the Week

"So are you the skinny guy with the baby face?"

Gov't turns "R" word into "D" word....

So now that the national debt has been increased by $1 Trillion (or more than 10%) in just 2 months, and the wall street bailout is well underway, we are reaping the rich rewards of that sacrifice in the form of a skyrocketing stock market and booming economy... snap out of it politicians!!

That was the warm fuzzy dream you had last night, not reality. Our taxpayer money has as much as been thrown out the window of a jumbo jet flying over the middle of the pacific ocean, the economy is still tanking, the stock market closed at a 5 year low, and all you did was fatten the pockets of corrupt (ok lets be nice and just call them naive) corporate executives.


What you did, Misters and Missus' lawmaker, was to remove the incentive for companies to make the painful, but necessary, steps to downsize, reorganize, and restructure their businesses into new, competitive forms that would take them forward. Instead, the old, destructive ways will remain thanks to the influx of ill-gotten cash.

And now, the Governors of CT, NY, and NJ want $50 million in grants so they can give 82,000 out-of-work financial services workers up to $12,500 EACH to "help them relocate and find jobs" !!!!! pssst. secret here. rewarding workers with money when they lose jobs removes incentive to find jobs.

Case in point: An acquaintance of mine who shall remain nameless, lost his job in mid-summer. I lost my job early October. I didn't take unemployment payments, and as such, with money running out fast, I went to great lenghts to find a new job, and fast. One month to the day, after I lost my job, I was hired to a new one (and turned down two offers of part time work to take it), and that includes nearly 2 weeks of no job hunting because I came down with pnemonia. My acquaintance, living comfortably on unemployment, "can't find a job because of the tough economy" hmmm.

Meanwhile, the "Big Three" automakers are clamoring for a $25 Billion bailout. Same principle applies here as in the financial companies, Misters and Missus' lawmakers.

So do EVERYONE a HUGE favor, and just say NO to any more bailout proposals. "Bailout" is the fancy term for "deficit spend the economy into depression."

Special thanks to everyone who actually read down to here. Double thanks if you are a congress person. And 100 thousand thanks if you heed this advice.

Its been a good week

and an even better day :) I spent most of my first week being trained and getting up to speed on our inventory, which is going to take a while to complete. But today I got a couple of house deals delegated to me so I will have a bit more in my paycheck this week, and there are still 5 days of it left! So things are looking up.

Boo ya!

So about the smartest decision I made yesterday was to go visit my former boss to catch up with him a little bit. Since it was Thursday, his buddy Steve was there as well. When I told them about my interview at Walker earlier that morning, Steve asked who the sales manager was at Walker and I told him it was Kevin Murphy... well, Steve used to work with Kevin in the military, having met as students at Norwich U! So apparently Steve called up Kevin yesterday evening and told him some nice things about me, and Kevin hired me on the spot today following my interview (I didn't meet with Mr. Walker because he was not feeling well today). So I start Monday!

More good news

So yesterday I got confirmation that UPS does indeed want me for the temp job starting on the 14th, and then I got called by the sales manager at a local Ford dealership asking me to come in for an interview today at 11.

Well. Interesting story there. I had gone in last week to ask for an application and was told the dealership was not hiring at the moment. Well I figured I would fill it out anyways and I dropped it off yesterday. It was only about 2 hours later when I got the call. Hmmm. Well after my interview today with the sales manager, he asked me to come back for an interview tomorrow at 11, this time with the owner! Sounds promising to me. I'll update tomorrow on how it went.

On a more personal note...

I had an interview with the owner of Tool Warehouse Outlet in Barre and he said he would really like to take me on in February when one of his workers is leaving to join the Air Force. And it seems pretty likely I will be offered a part-time temporary job working for UPS until Christmas (I interviewed with them on Friday). Now I just need to find something to complement my UPS work schedule and fill the January gap.