Time flies when your having fun....or not!!!!

I haven't written in awhile here... I know it is not good for people to know who is writing this... it seems like I am cynical, bitter, and a bit off my rocker.  But I find that what I have to say has to be said so that I don't go out of my mind.... so that I can find a way to let go of all the bad.  I am not trying to dump on people, I am trying to keep what little peace of mind I have.  So I have decided to write again, so that I can put it out there, instead of it piling up in my mind...

Like I have said before, I am only letting you know about some of the bad that happens in my shop, so that you know, I try hard, I try really hard to make my customers happy but the world that we live in now is taking it's toll on me.  

Yesterday I had a sales rep in.  No she did not have an appointment, she instead decided to cold call.  After 10 years of cold calls I do not appreciate them.  I know that sounds a bit "cold" but they are inconvenient.  No matter when.  You decide if you would have thought the same.  You can decide the same or not, but remember that I am the one that sits here day after day hoping for customers, hoping that I can pay my bills, and hoping that we (the shop) will make it through another day, week, month and year.  

She walked through the door and said she was from Gift Craft (huge company, all imported).  She told me her name, I don't remember it, sorry.  Asked me if I knew her company?  I said yes, we had done business with her company in the past.  She said she wasn't aware that we had ever done business with them.  Then she asked if I had time to look at her things...... seriously?  You can see that there are two other people here, so what makes her think that I will turn my back on those two people.  They could have been customers, other sales reps, friends, or anything else.  She had no idea, so for her to presume that I wanted to look at her things right then.....ugh, Strike # 1.  So she asked if I will make an appointment, I say No that I don't want to make an appointment at this time.  She pushes further... Strike #2.  So I proceed to tell her that business has SUCKED, that we are barely making it, that we have had another very hard winter.  She insisted that I must be alone in this because she is placing orders all over the place.  Well that pisses me off because I have several business owners that I speak with on a regular basis and that is not what they are telling me.  So I also tell her that I am done with buying from big import companies only to have them sell off all of their overstock to discount stores without offering it to us first at those rates.  She tells me her company isn't doing that and again insists that if I would only give her a bit of my time that she knows she has product that would do better in my store than what I am selling now. I tell her that I am more interested in selling handmade now, or USA made.  She tells me that there is no mark up in that and that is probably not the smartest idea, that I should be selling to the tourists, that might help me not to be so idle,  Strike #3.  Seriously, you have never set foot in my store until yesterday, when you decided to cold call on me because you were driving by.... you walk in and assume that I am doing well because the shelves are stocked, you believe I should give you an appointment right there on the spot so that you won't have to drive back from where to hell ever that you came from... and then you make a decision that you know what is going to sell better for me than I do after 10 years of me doing this.  Well Chicky, you will never get an appointment with me to sell me a bunch of imported items that will eventually go on sale at the dollar general...that's right that is where I see some of your items.  You also should know that if you hand me a card and ask me to make an appointment and I say not now, an appropriate answer would be to ask for my card and if you could call me at a later time.    And people wonder why I consider drinking on a daily basis lately.