Desperation on the sales floor
Fresh out of university with a degree in English, I did what most clueless grads did in the 90's and took a media sales job.

I met the publishing company at a recruitment fair, and I'll be honest, I was somewhat relieved they were even talking to me. Alarm bells should have been ringing when they called me back the next day to ask if I would consider working for them.

I of course accepted even though the salary would barely cover my travel expenses. (I reasoned it was better to be on the ladder being paid pittance than not at all).

My first three days on the job were training with 20 other recently recruited sales execs. The sales trainer declared on day one that only 50% of us would make it through training, and only 20% of those who remained would be with the business for more than 3 months. Turns out he was being a little generous with his predictions.

Looking back at the year I spent with the company, it saddens me to recall some of the practices on display which included:

- Removing all chairs from the sales floor to ensure employees were always on the phone when the daily averages were below standard

- Bullying poor-performing employees into giving up their basic salary to go 'commission-only'

- Putting the poorest performers on the 'blanker's table', reserved for anyone who hadn't sold anything for over 2 weeks

- Encouraging employees to go on sales training courses and asking them to pay hundreds of pounds for the privilege

- Only allowing the top 20% of performers to go to the Xmas party

In my time I also saw one guy carried out on a stretcher twice after having a stress-induced heart-attack. He also used to openly weep after getting a deal because it meant he could pay his mortgage :-(

There's loads more to tell, but neither the space nor the time. The thing is, I don't regret my time there, rather I see it as the catalyst for what I've achieved since.

Horrific experience? Yes!

Character building? Absolutely!
(BinDipper, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 15:19, 10 replies)

Really awful
Thank goodness I've been more or less lucky to avoid working in places with shit like this.
( Brandy_Bumwinkle, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 15:26, closed)

I'll give you a click
for the weeping man. Poor fellow.
(Monkey the Chicken Twitter: death_stairs, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 16:28, closed)

One thing I've never understood about you educated white-collar types
is why and how you can put up with absolutely awful conditions, psychological battering and near-slavery in return for a vague promise of something better.

I've done some dirty, shitty jobs but nobody was treated like that - if they were, the companies concerned would have turned over most of their workforce every month and gone bust within a year.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 19:08, closed)

I think that - at least in Britain -
we're all so childishly meritocratic.

A lot of people leave university with two beliefs: first, that the cream will always rise to the top, no matter how deep the bucket; second, that having a degree of any sort is sufficient to show that you're one of the best.

Both of these beliefs are comically false. But they do mean that people'll often put up with all kinds of crap in the belief that it's only a transitional stage, and some time in the near future they'll be on the board. Silly rabbits.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 20:11, closed)

See also: internships.
Not sure I'd call the process of getting a specially-accredited bit of paper in order to advance up the career ladder despite a total lack of requisite skills and experience "meritocratic", though.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 20:29, closed)

Explain the chairs thing to me.
I don't understand it.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 20:06, closed)

The general thinking in direct sales is that people who stand up when they pitch are more successful.

Removing chairs from the sales floor was also a punishment for a poor sales day, aiming to motivate people to sell more in order to get their chair back.
(BinDipper, Fri 8 Jul 2011, 9:29, closed)

I was asked to do this early in my career..
they called it stand up technology; you stood until you got a deal and then you sat down.

It was bollocks as we all just booked business that wasn't real.
( lucosade is counting down the minutes until, Fri 8 Jul 2011, 14:24, closed)

Aye, whenever you put people under the pressure of commission-only roles, you open yourself up to many a bogus deal.

Saw loads fired because of it.
(BinDipper, Fri 8 Jul 2011, 15:16, closed)

Stress induced heart attacks are for losers, mine will be due to pork chops and fags

( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Thu 7 Jul 2011, 21:24, closed)