Sunday - A day deleted from memory

I was trying hard to recall that what I did on last Sunday but was failing miserably. Just one week of sales round across Chennai and it seems that the summer heat is getting into my head and then with the word heat, I vaguely recalled that we went to beach in the evening. A whole crowd of people including some seniors who were clunging on to the memories of good times that they have spent during the last two years. The evening went well but I remember that for all that time I was dying with andticipation that what kind of work I will get tomorrow. Will it be sales rounds again and if it will be then how many and of what nature? The sea calmed my thoughts down with its sheer modesty. The water was soothing and can only climb up to my feet.

Confusion prevailed over the choice of the eating out joint as 14 people were offering atleast 6 different points based on convenience and cost. Finally we went to this small place called Kebabish right at the back of our college. Waited for like one hour sitting and shouting for the food. We were so thirsty that apparently we drank all the water available there. Then walked back to hostel and the only thought that came to my mind was to retire back to bed and think about tomorrow. Was not able to avoid sleep till long and in the coldness of the night, I lied half asleep half awake till 6 in the morning. So much for this job but yet so little.

Salesmen work 6 days a week

It’s a Saturday morning and as usual I have plans to get up late but no, I wake up early with a little tension in my mind. I need to go to office as a salesman work 6 days a week. Man! I guess computer engineering was a better career option as most of the IT companies are 5 days a week ones. Well, I thought to call my boss and ask if there is something important then I will come or else, the bed or an outing in the evening sounds good. So, half-heartedly I called and my boss promptly replied that yeah you have to come to office. So in the scorching Chennai heat, I decided to save a few bucks and took a bus to the office. After around 45 minutes and sweating a bucket I reached the office. As anticipated was asked to wait and then after 30 minutes of reading the same magazines over and over again (which I am reading since last Monday) I was finally seen by my boss.

What a meeting it was. I was asked to round up my findings and as I don’t know the language and don’t know the intentions of salesmen or sales officer for that sake, I was unable to find the links between my visits and how they are going to help the company. I mean, a simple thing is that if a salesman has no incentive to sell more, he won’t be going to all 40 shops and all he will do is just make fake entries, skip some shops and stock dumping at places where he has close relation with the purchase guys. I was not aware of the thing that sales officers are not company employees and they also don’t have any incentive to sell more so all they will do is to show you the side of the market that you want to see. Well, so I saw all that. And my boss pulled me up for skipping a beat. I don’t know why but I didn’t have the courage to tell him that I was not feeling well and this thing is not my cup of tea. Maybe the fact that he is from Punjab is still playing on my mind or may be he is my first boss and I fear that I don’t know how to talk to a boss. Anyways, I know this pulling up will not sink in easily and will motivate me for sure.

Mistaken Identity

I call this sales officer and despite of all my attempts to convince him of the fact that I am just doing a project with Henkel, he assumes that I am an important person sent by company to do some inspection disguised as sales beat. Well, so there he is waiting for me at the bus stop. Poor thing, I am on this side of the road, waiting for somebody to come and he is standing on the other side of the road waiting for me to come. Finally I called him and he waives his hands from the other side that “I can see you; you are the guy on the phone”. Well, due to this mistaken identity he indulges himself into impression management but came out to be a good learning experience for me.

Anna Nagar- I know Chennai better now

I can’t speak the language and my direction sense is just limited to landmarks like restaurants, theatres and malls (Chennai don’t have many malls but still). So, I remember Anna Nagar for Rajasthani Dhaba though only few people can actually locate that there is a dhaba nearby. It’s more famous due to Hot Chips restaurant (selective retention thing). So there we go on a motorbike and again from shop to shop taking orders and filling DSR (daily sales report). I try my best to catch whatever I can and all I catch is that after sometime they do discuss about my project and my native place and my college (in Tamil of-course but they call Bihar as Bihar and Punjab as Punjab and Nungambakkam as Nungambakkam, thanks god). Tea time and I am offered tea (glad I don’t have to pay today due to mistaken identity) and then after half an hour I am offered cool drinks (that’s the word used in Chennai for soda/cold drinks). Some 20 shops and then we walk into a good looking place and I realize that I need lunch also. He appears to be a nice guy but I know that all this may be just one time gesture and perhaps will fade up the next time I turn up. Perhaps he doesn’t know that I am really here to spy on his activities but disguised and my company people calls it a project.

Anyways, my learning from today’s beat is that though I am coming to know the city well now, I have still a long way to go for adapting to city transportation, language and food. Though there are certain things which flow above the language but sales make sense only when you can really talk and connect to that particular small shop owner. Your salesman is the first point of contact and if he can connect well with your sales people, no doubt they will become your best representatives.

Skipping a beat

I woke up early in the morning with a sneezing nose. Kind of blocked, I try to clean it up and then see my own blood circling the wash basin to finally sink in. Man! I can’t believe this, that disgusting feeling of seeing your own blood comes to me and I panic. Can’t even stand properly and then I try to hold the wash basin but of no use. I come back to my room and lie down on my back so that blood can’t flow downwards. 10 minutes and I can still feel wet sensation in my nose. I try to put up a call through and the sales officer didn’t pick. Just lying down I put up a message to the sales officer that I won’t be able to come to job today and most probably I would see you tomorrow. I lie down on my bed and think about my job and then I fell into a deep sleep only to wake up a bit healthy. I skipped a beat, god it feels worse.

My little expedition

I am excited about my new job and even when I am a bit sick, that feeling of doing something is bugging me and I get out of my hostel in the evening to find something interesting. I went out on a random survey of around 25 outlets in Nungambakkam area asking them about availability of Henko product. Most of them had but not all the stuff. Some were missing the cosmetic things, some were missing the detergent stuff but barring a couple of shops most of them had one thing or another. Anyways my little expedition lasted for some two hours and I came to know that the brand that I am working for is not really a fast moving consumer good in this area. Anyways let’s see what can I find tomorrow.

That was not all..

Well, the project detail was just a part of the day. Apart from those couple of hours of waiting, I was asked to wait for some more time as they needed to get me contact number of 3 sales reps. So I waited and waited and waited. I asked my Boss that I have 3 contact numbers and if they are the same person then can I do something else or break for the day? But then, he gave me a cold stare and asked me to wait as these three people might be an entirely different set. At sometime after 4 my boss left telling me to co-ordinate with the brand manager and he looked like a nice guy. So I finally gathered some courage and asked him to rush up a bit and surprisingly he obliged. he asked me to leave and offered to mail the details. So I came home and then within half an hour I got the contact details on mail and guess what? they were the same guyz whose details I already had. So much to wait for and such caring managers. Cool, I guess life has much more to offer. Let's wait.