La Cienega

Today I made 86 dollars.

Shocker. No Spenser. I get partnered up with Joe Nixon, the Brit from Manchester. He's a nice guy, he always says hi David! to me every day. One of the few guys who consistently make an effort to say hi to me.

Supplier call from Ryan Irish. He recalls his early struggles, how he hated going out into the field, how he didn't understand. But he bit the bullet, and kept pushing on. And as he did, he learned more, he improved more. I felt like I could relate to him. I wanted to be like him, past all the tough stuff.

Everyone goes through the field, he says. The field tests you. It tests your attitude, your work ethic, your maturity, and your professionalism. Through my experiences thus far, I cannot disagree.

I'm supposed to be appreciative of the people who have gone through the struggle before me. They understand me, and thus they will help me to be less of me and more of them. Except- thus far, I do not feel like I am being helped. I feel like I'm being thrown into the water without any training to swim.

I lose my pen. These days, I'm losing everything. I borrow one from DeSean Jackson. He tells me to keep it. His attitude was amazing the first day I met him. Today, it seems the field is getting the better of him. Seems that way with guys with pride. Pride is transparent in a beaten man. I'm sure I reflect the same thing.

Jared gives a seminar about being a leader. Parts of it I can relate to, some parts not so much. I can tell he's focusing on the leaders who will be in charge when half the office goes to Dallas tomorrow.

So I go out with Joe, who seems to be quite rude. Perhaps it's a British thing. He expects me to drive, treats my car like it's his, throwing trash around everywhere and rearranging my trunk. He comes super late to the car when in the office, when I said "ready to rock and roll?" he said he was, and he even started to exit behind me, but he didn't show for a while with no explanation. No biggie.

We go to the gas station next door so Joe could get some coffee. I go in with him because I want to pee before we start the day. Joe sees some black girls and chats them up. He's a smooth talker. He's tall, blond, in shape (he was a former professional soccer player), handsome, and has a British accent. He then asks me to open my trunk, and I see him taking out some pink bags. He's ready to pitch before we even hit territory. He gets a drop.

Though I sort of wanted a leader that was not Spenser, I didn't want to go out with Joe. He was a slick and experienced salesman, and he had no obligation to help me out. He couldn't benefit from me being successful. If anything, I would take away his potential buyers.

I park illegally in a lot due to Joe's peer pressure, and we enter two or three warehouses in which Joe does all the talking, and I sort of just watch.

As we go to the back, I decide to take initiative and make my first pitch on a man apparently leaving the warehouse for his truck. I copy one of Joe's lines and I get a drop. He doesn't have 22, so I give it to him for 20.

No's and no's until the end of the alley where I enter an office as though I own it. Two women are there and I make my pitch. I almost drop the iron, but I drop a set and a brush kit to the stronger woman. Joe drops the Manager's Special on one of the guys I skipped to get to the girls.

Then it's just no's galore. We move territories, and I get more no's. I miss Spenser. He's great at territories. Joe, not so great. But he is a better salesman. He sometimes gives me advice when he notices a glaring flaw, and I appreciate it. But on the field, we're competitors and he'll try to walk faster than me to get to a potential buyer. Well, okay then.

I come back to the car, and I find Joe's side of the car windows down. Come on, man.

Joe takes forever on a small territory and I'm negged out so I sit in the car and contemplate quitting. I take out my notebook to take some more notes on the items before Joe returns.

We go to another spot in El Segundo. The first place I go to is a Flame Broiler's. The dude is interested in the iron and I give him my pitch. He decides to buy but only if I get an iron with a better box. Excited, I rush to my car, open the trunk, find the best looking box then go back and drop the Special. I go back to the car for a re-fill when I realize I don't have my keys. I must have dropped them in the trunk in my excitement. I notice that Joe's side's window is slightly open and I'm grateful that it is because I think I can use a wire to unlock the door manually from the inside. I then waste the next two and a half hours trying to do so and fail. A bunch of dudes come by and try to help and they all fail, too. A nice black lady calls AAA for me and I finally get my keys back.

I'm super negged out because Joe dropped on two people in the Flame Broiler area, then proceeded to drop everything he had while I was at the car.

We go to another place, but my attitude is so bad, I scare people away.

I go back into the car while Joe takes forever flirting with some girls. He's really good at that.

I text my friends, telling them how miserable I am. How I hate my life and how I want to quit. Joe comes in the car and asks me if I'm okay. He can tell I'm negged out, and I can see him texting some girl on his phone, but he drops that and decides to cheer me up. He tells me about the progress I made, and focuses on the positive.

When we go back to the office, he tweeks my pitch. A lot. He's super critical about everything, but in a positive way. He breaks down my flaws and I love it. I wish I had done this much sooner. Spenser returns, and I realize that I've missed him. But he tries to interrupt and steal me away, but I'm too entranced on self-improvement that I try to extract as much from Joe as possible. He's not so bad, that guy.

Spenser and I talk alone. I tell him what I learned from Joe and he gets defensive saying that he had already taught me everything, or that he didn't want to teach me this or that because he didn't want to overwhelm me.

I dread the Jared disappointment talk. But when I go in, he's so tired from his day, he gives me a huge pay raise for the day that I immediately forgive him for yesterday's mishap. He tells me "You know what to do. You'll be fine." His confidence in me, even if it's fake, gives me confidence.

I go home and I decide to be nicer to my parents. I compliment my mom on her cooking, but she seems bitter at me. I guess that's where I learned that.