No Floor Fights For Me

I have shared on my blog that working in design is my life,

but have I shared that doing design in the world of retail is hell ?

I am working for a huge design & furniture company in Florida. The company is great, though their technology (computers etc) is like working for The Flintstones. I am not kidding.

The rules in retail are as follows in most showrooms;

When a person walks into a showroom, who ever is in line to greet at the door, that is their 'UP'. An 'UP' is also considered your 'opportunity', and sometimes that is considered a 'joke'.

By A 'Joke' I mean: someone with nothing to do and no intention of buying anything, and stays for hours walks in the door, and if you are unlucky enough, that is your 'up'.

The entire time that person is in the building, the designer or salesperson is not permitted to take another customer or client. ( unless you have a 'be back')

*The goal is to create relationships with potential buyers. If you have been wonderful and knowledgeable, when they (customer-client) return they ask for you. This is considered a 'BE BACK'. And this is a very good thing. This is considered to be your 'following', or your' book.'

Well 2 nights ago I had a big sale. And we have a certifiable male lunatic on our showroom floor.

I am really serious. He alone could have his own sitcom. Do you remember 'JACK' from Will & Grace? There were a few times when Jack was hateful and a bore. That is my lunatic !!

And no, this man is not gay. He acts 'straight'.....but I know somewhere inside himself he is deeply confused about something....or all things.

Anyway,he has a woman friend who has appointed herself his protector. But her motives for doing so are entirely to long to discuss now. Let's just say it is about money. LIKE EVERYTHING in retail.

Back to the lunatic, as soon as he sees I am selling and it is a good 'UP' he starts flipping out and telling his female friend (who we shall refer to as Medusa because she is horribly mean to everyone) that he had spent 1.5 hours with (my client) 2 days ago.

This pic is not an exaggeration of the situation. Wierd huh???

*Remember, we are in a beautiful showroom.....

She is a controlling witch, and he is a wimpy, yet evil aggressive jerk at the same time.

So what does he do ?? He sicks the showroom bully, Medusa on me.

Well, not only did my client-customer not ask for the Lunatic by name, but she had stated that the last man (who she did not know his name) was absolutely horrible and too pushy. She did not want to deal with who ever this man was.

The Lunatic is ranting in the office that he had spent time with the customer, and how dare the customer not ask for him - He is saying all this to Medusa.

This is where Medusa comes in......she starts bugging me to split the sale with the Lunatic.

He gets himself so crazy with his usual histrionics, that he goes home early, only to continually call in to see how much my sale was. HUH? %%#%^&()_@#@!%

Pretty weird if you ask me. I never care what other people are doing.

Until the end of the evening Medusa nastily harassed me.

You would really have to work with her to get my meaning. She becomes really nasty and mean when she is not writing business.

But here is where MY GROWTH comes in.......

I normally would split my sale with the Lunatic to shut her up and keep the peace.

I know some of you can relate....I am a people pleaser.

I hate confrontations.

That is why I spend so much time alone,

if I am alone I am not affected by other people's DRAMA. I hate drama too.

Unless it is on 'Dexter' the TV show

Some of you may know that I am the new at this job, and these two characters (or these two lack of characters) are testing me. Right? Right!

Guess what I did?

I did not give in, I stood my ground. I knew that my side of the street was clean.

I have an extremely loud conscious, I never steal a sale.

I worked very hard for the sale, 4 hours long hard.

And through the harassment I kept my composure.

(that was another accomplishment - I didn't tear up)

And when the process and the sale was finally finished, I knew I had made a long time client.

Someone to add to my 'BOOK'.

What do you think about this ??

AHHH....venting is a beutiful thing.

I feel better already.

first image from:(home-biba.blogspot.com)

Renee Finberg 'TELLS ALL' in her BLOG.....
Interior Design, Palm Beach, Boca Raton,Design Sources, Window Treatments, Custom Design, Paint, Color Coordination, Online Interior Design, Floor Plans, All Custom