Birth of a Salesman

“Hey, This is just the thing for you … I mean look at it … with this in your pocket you can feel confident and at ease … you’ll never need another and this card carries no worries.” I was not going to let this fish get out of my hand.

“But really .. do you have any idea what I am going through these days … nowadays buying a credit card is the last thing on my mind “ Poor guy really seemed disturbed.

“I know … I really feel sorry for you ( I was always taught to empathize with the customer .. don’t sympathize … empathize ! they say ) I mean we had so much together in school…”

“I hardly ever knew you then !” Out came the truth from him right on my face.

“Hey but I was keeping an eye on you. You were such a good fellow. I knew you would help me out some day … well today is that day. Come on … just say your going to sign up, if you can’t afford it who can ?” I decided to just get to the point.

” Will it get you off my back?” He really wanted me to disappear.

“It sure will … if you also give me your daddy’s contact list” I wondered if I was being greedy, but that is the point of my job they say.

“If it has to be this way … go and see dad tomorrow in his office .. I’ll talk to him.” He had no choice, I was not going to give up for anything else.

“Thanks buddy I knew you’ll do me good. By the way what do the doctors say.” I felt an obligation to ask the question.

”I may never walk again. Oh ! I’m sorry to here that … Well you didn’t like to walk anyways … Good bye “ There is a bright side to everything they say.

A job well done, if I do say so myself. It does feel a bit awkward to trouble my friend just after he had an accident, but the world never stops for anybody they say. I have to get clients for my manager who has to submit his report to his boss. The boss has to show the multinationals, who appointed him, that everything is working out well here and they may continue the business in Pakistan. Well it all comes down on my shoulders and I feel the responsibility to keep the corporation working here, its good for our economy and its good for the people. Surely I would rather be playing my part rather than sending ‘get well soon’ wishes to the old school mate, who I hardly knew apart from the fact that he was filthy rich.

Ahh … Home at last. My working place is my home for the last couple of months, considering the fact how much time I have to spend here. The huge building speaks for the name of the multinational. They have placed us in the basement for the time being, but I sure will be working upstairs someday. I may have my own little cubicle after I have shown results, they say. Let us meet the people I work with. My colleagues come from diverse backdrops. Mr. Shah has a lot much experience in marketing field, he has been around for four years now. He only holds a bachelor degree, but experience counts they say. Mr. Khan, he has done …. Actually nobody has ever asked him what he has done … not even the interviewers, I wonder why ? well I doesn’t make much difference because he says he won’t be around for long, he always talks about his father sending him abroad, maybe that’s the reason he never troubles himself with work. The fourth seat has quite a story about it most of the time it is occupied by a conservative fresh MBA who sits on it for a day or two and then decides this is not the place for him. He is actually the one living in fools paradise … thinking about getting a place upstairs straightaway. The poor fellow doesn’t know a simple rule of the game, slow and steady wins the race, they say.

Now you must have guessed what we do around here. We are marketeers, marketing executives. I don’t like being called a salesman but some smart allecs do call us so. We are on the mission to secure as many customers so that they can facilitate form our services. So if a man with real ‘insight’ studies our job, he will sure end up saying that we are actually working for humanity, and building our careers as well.

The people who are already impressed with my job must be wondering how I came about it. No ! its not my excellent academic record, nor its any other special skill I hold. I owe it all to my alma mater. Yes sir, my college which made it possible for me to stand up to this changing and challenging world. I needed ‘practical’ mode of education to survive through this … and I did it thanks to my College, ‘The Round The Corner College Of Business Administration’.

My college in many ways similar to its contemporaries is always looking for students like me, who have no scope in life and are pretty well not good at any thing. It takes them and transforms them into ‘Dynamic’ individuals fit to enter the career race. My college announced its existence to me by dropping an ad in the local newspaper. The ad, I must add appealed to me so much. So much educational prgrammes packed into a little box space ( Later I was amazed to find so much programmes commencing in the small space the college had ) and affiliations with so many foreign universities that I even heard of … not to mention my scholar uncle who teaches at Yale failed to recognize any of the names. So all I needed was to convince my father to part with a huge chunk of his retirement money to get myself admitted there. The admission officer, a rather good looking young lady about my age, convinced me that I would be earning so much after the programme that it doesn’t matter how much I pay in terms of fee. My third division in BA was of no problem she assured me as I was able to pay half the fee in advance, she assured me, as the aim of the college was to transform students like me who have given such hopeless results throughout their academic life into corporate leaders of the future. The course was rigorous, I must say, whole 16 ( yes sixteen !!! ) months of studies. The faculty was very learned and youthful. In fact sometimes I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that if my teachers were so good at this why don’t they get a steady job for themselves, which will pay them more and save them the trouble of spending different tiers of daytime at different colleges. I must salute there willingness to share their knowledge.

The conditions were ideal for learning in the college. In fact it felt like home, this probably due to the fact that the college was a rented house. I must confess things did over whelm me. Considering my background of all boys school and a government college … the colored clothes and hustle bustle of female fellows around made me feel infatuated with the college. Sometimes I felt quite out of place among so called ‘cool’ guys but that’s another story. Moreover the musical nights held there and private parties at a class fellow’s farm house made sure I enjoyed every bit of time spent there. And if your heart is ok with it you can really study well they say.

My alma mater was very generous with me. They really showed care for me from time to time. I mean there were times when I was going to be dropped from a semester for showing poor performance but the college was there for me. All asked for was some increment in the next semester’s fee and I was promoted. You can well imagine their commitment to save my future.

My GPA rose ‘miraculously’ in the final semester and suddenly I found myself In the Dean’s list. Perhaps the only honor I received in my life. Finally the day came when I was going to be awarded my degree. The function was organized in five star hotel ( Obviously we had to pay extra expenses for that ).

Dignitaries of the city were invited, unfortunately none of them found the time to attend our convocation. When the time came when they handed my MBA degree I knew I now hold the key to success in the modern Pakistan. I had a new life to look forward to, new lands to conquer. This was my rebirth as a new individual who is ‘Dynamic, Ready for challenges and Looking for a Successful Career’. It was the birth of a Sales Man they say … and I'm afraid they are right !