Some Things Are Meant To Be
Chapter 1

Copyright© 2007 by DREMAN

It was a beautiful spring in Michigan when the college in which I was teaching took a financial turn for the worse. Gifts to the college in support of the arts were lagging behind the budgetary needs. As Dean of the School of Music, I had become burned out dealing with the lack of finances to support our work. I knew the department could not continue to support all its faculty members so I offered to resign and seek employment elsewhere. The President of the college was regretful that the school was in such financial straights. To let him know that I was okay with my decision, I told him what my wife has a habit of saying. I said, "Some things are meant to be, Doctor Kilgore." With that I shook his hand and left his office.

Colleen was the Assistant Dean at the time, so she became the Acting Dean in my place. The president felt that the college had enough in reserve to sustain her salary for the duration of the academic year, so she stayed on.

While considering where I might start looking for a job, it came to me that I had once considered becoming a salesman several years before. It so happened that an old friend of mine was the owner/president of a high-end electronics store in Mt Clemens, Michigan. It was only 25 miles from where we now lived, so I called his company office to set up a time to visit with him.

When he heard who was calling he got on the phone and spoke with me briefly. He gave me a time and date to drop in and I wrote it down. On the appointed day I dressed for an interview and headed for Audiomart - Men of Sound.

The president, Chris Crismon, was very busy that day and, though he had promised a 10:30 AM interview, it was almost noon before he had time to see me. When I walked into his office, He smiled and rose from his chair to greet me. "Ed, I am sorry you had to wait so long. I'd invite you to lunch but I don't even have time for that today. What brings you here?"

I didn't tell him right away because I wanted to chat first. We talked about the past and I brought him up to date on what was happening in our lives. Then I told him why I was there and I asked him if he had any job openings in one of his seven stores. He said that he might have an opening or two but he wanted to know how much experience I had in sales before he committed himself. I told him that I really didn't have any experience, but I was willing to make him an offer he couldn't refuse.

"What's that," he queried?

"Let me work for you for two weeks for nothing and, if it doesn't work out, I'll walk away and you won't owe me anything," I told him. "I'm willing to work any or all hours the store is open just to learn what I need to know to sell your products to the public."

He burst out laughing and stated, "In all my years in business I've never had an offer like that. How about I just pay you minimum salary during the first two weeks?"

"If you would like to do that, it's okay by me, but you don't have to. I want to try my hand at sales and you have a product line in which I am very interested. I've always been nuts over good hi-fi gear and I think I can sell it to others," I told him.

"When do you want to start," he asked?

"I could start today, if you're okay with that," I responded.

"You've got yourself a deal," he said as he rose from his chair to shake my hand. "Go out front and ask for Bill. Tell him you're a new hire and that you are on the clock as of noon today."

I thanked him and reminded him, "Just remember, Chris, two weeks. If I'm no good, tell me. I don't want to infringe on our friendship if I'm no good at sales."

He looked at me through smiling eyes and replied, "You're going to do just fine, I'm sure."

I walked out front and asked the cashier for Bill. She pointed him out to me and I walked over to introduce myself. Bill looked to be about my age. He was shorter than I. I'm 6'1" and he looked to be about 5'7". He was a good-looking black guy but not remarkably so. When I approached him He was standing behind his desk studying a brochure. I said to him, "My name is Ed, Bill, and I want to learn to do what you do."

He looked up at me questioningly and asked, "Why the hell would anyone want to work in a sweatshop like this? The competition is fierce, the customers are obnoxious, the sales commissions are pitiful, and the hours are long and very boring at times. Can't you think of something more interesting and profitable to do?"

I didn't know whether laugh or what. I thought I had met the world's greatest pessimist and I didn't know how to respond. A moment later, he began to laugh and shook my hand. "Welcome to Audiomart, Ed. Watch closely and you can learn to do what I do."

I later learned that the pessimistic act was a game with Bill. He was actually a positive guy. Why shouldn't he be? He was, after all, the yet-to-be-challenged King of the Hill in sales at Audiomart.

That night at home I told Colleen the good news about my new job. She was still irked that I had resigned from my college post, so she was not at all impressed with what I was going to be doing or what I would be paid to do it. She questioned how we could get by even with both our salaries. I assured her that it would be okay once I became the salesman I thought I could be. She just rolled her eyes and said, "Let me get back to you on that in another month or two. I know you're a diligent worker but I cannot see us getting rich on your commissions."

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