It is a sales job and I’m interested in the marketing side, specifically market research. My current sales job has heavily increased the amount of merchandising I do, and I feel that I didn’t go to college to do something I did as a teenager for a summer job.
My boss also enjoys taking responsibility for big sales I make.
I often work 8am to 8pm while being asked why I didn’t get to all my stores. My superiors play a game of willful ignorance about customer level issues that cause all the sales reps to work long, unpaid overtime (which is illegal-they’re getting sued for this) because their hands seem tied in terms of covering their own “butts”. Even talking to them about any technical issues in the slightest results in a response of: “I don’t understand. I don’t see how that could be” and me slamming my head against the wall.
Our territories in the past two years have become overly large due to not replacing old territories and we’re still pushed to do what 2.5 sales reps could barely handle two years ago.
Other members of my company come into my territory and screw things up with my hot leads by trying to sell without me, often claiming sales while not actually ever speaking to the decision maker, and then I have to defend myself later when the sale never comes through.
I’m surrounded by work 24/7 because our selling displays are in my house. I work from home and go into the field every day. I have files and boxes all over my house.
The Monday-Friday article you wrote perfectly describes my life every week, and I need time to learn SPSS and other statistics programs to make a change. However, since my life revolves around this job I have a hard time finding time to work on my skills.
~Worker Living in Wisconsin
