Windows to windows (and back again) - 13/02/04

It all started about a month ago…

After a long stint of being unemployed (lots of interviews, just far more IT people on the market than there are jobs to support them) I’d pretty much come to the conclusion that I might as well try any job that’d pay me something. The idea of working minimum wage in a supermarket for all the hours I’m given wasn’t too appealing, but it was something I was considering until I spotted an advert offering great pay for flexible hours. What’s more it was based where my girlfriend lived, so it seemed perfect. I gave them a call, and was invited to pop in to the branch the following Monday to have an informal chat to see if I liked what I saw.

The company in question was Staybrite windows – the position was for a double glazing salesman (sorry, I mean “Showhome Consultant.”)

Needless to say I was impressed – I was offered incredible amounts of money for a few hours work a day, was told I’d be able to pick exactly when I wanted to work and that I’d be given my appointments well in advance.

Of course I was interested, so I got booked in on a residential training course the following week (at a four star hotel, no less.)

The next week passed pretty quickly (off at CenterParcs with friends, which is another story entirely) and on the Sunday evening I drove down to the hotel on the border of Essex (getting a bit lost on the way, but finding it eventually.)

I checked in, and was given the key to my room. I hadn’t eaten anything, and food wasn’t available that evening, but I was too tired from the drive down to really care.

Saying the hotel was four star was just a bit of an exaggeration. To be honest, the facilities at my halls of residence when I was at university were better. Ok, the food was reasonable (can’t really complain when it was free) but my room was a poky little dorm room, with a separate bathroom down a flight of stairs. Note I said “bathroom” as there was no shower. Great for someone with long hair.

No shampoo either. Even with my limited knowledge of hotels I know that it’s perfectly normal for them to give you little complementary bottles of shampoo. I’d forgotten to pack toothpaste too, so the following afternoon, after the first day’s tuition, I went down to reception to ask if I could buy some (there was a note in the folder in the room saying a limited selection of toiletries was available for sale.)

The woman behind reception was very helpful. She said that I should have got some complementary shampoo, and sent a man to get me some from the laundry room where the maids kept it. The only toothpaste they had for sale was in the form of a tiny travel toothbrush and toothpaste set for a pound, which contained virtually no toothpaste at all, so I made a trip round the corner to the local shop to buy a decent tube instead.

The following morning I washed my hair in the sink (not ideal, but I didn’t have time to run a bath, and didn’t feel like walking around the corridors wearing just a towel) and went off to my second day’s tuition.

I haven’t mentioned the course itself yet, mostly because I have no complaints at all with that part of the experience. The guy teaching us was great, and I learnt a scary amount about uPVC windows, and how loans and finance work (don’t get me started about APRs.)

At the end of the day I had my evening meal, retired to my room, and kept myself occupied watching TV and phoning my girlfriend.

It wasn’t until the following morning that I realised the bottles of complementary shampoo that I’d been given had vanished from the sink where I’d left them the previous morning.

I assumed they’d just been tidied away, so I went down to the laundry room (wearing boxers and a jumper, with my hair looking like I’d been dragged backwards through a small shrubbery) and asked the ladies there if it’d be ok if I could have some more shampoo, as the stuff I’d had had been cleaned away.

They ummed and ahhed and said they weren’t sure if I could have any. I got dragged downstairs and they spoke to someone more senior who explained that us Staybrite people weren’t entitled to shampoo. The maids had seen the shampoo in my room, not known how I’d got it, and so confiscated it. I asked if I could buy some then (those tiny bottles couldn’t cost any more than about 20p) but I was told that I couldn’t.

I wouldn’t have minded if I’d just been told that in the first place, as it’d have saved me from another trip down to the corner shop.

Again the rest of the course went pretty smoothly (bar the slightly strange guy with marginal tourette’s who was sat next to me the whole time) and I went home full of zeal ready to bore for my country on the subject of replacement double glazing.

The next week was pretty educational too – The manager of the branch (who I’ll only refer to as “D”) did more training exercises and got us to fill out assorted paperwork to make sure we knew what we were doing in that department.

Wednesday it snowed.

And snowed and snowed.

And then it snowed a bit more.

Lots of snow. The roads were impassable due to complete lack of gritting by the useless council. We were pretty much trapped in our own home. I phoned in to the office to let them know, and was told that “D” would phone me back. Which he didn’t.

Overnight it thawed, and then snowed again, leaving the drive and the road outside with the surface of an ice rink. I phoned in to work again, to let them know it seemed unlikely that I’d be able to get in that day either. “D” told me not to worry, but just to make sure I got to the advanced training course on Friday (which was a good distance away, meaning a very early start the next morning) and that I’d be working on Saturday and Sunday.

By the late afternoon, the weather was beginning to clear up, and the roads were just about safe to drive on. Knowing that there wouldn’t be any time for any more training, that I had an early start the following morning, and that I’d be busy all weekend, my girlfriend and I decided that it would be the perfect time to take care of some personal business in a city nearby.

At about quarter to five I got a call on my mobile from the branch secretary who told me that I had a 7pm appointment. I told her that I wasn’t at home, and that it’d be touch and go if I could make it back home for that time, yet alone make it to the appointment, but she was insistent that “D” really wanted me there.

We dropped what we were doing, and headed straight back for home as quickly as possible, but the traffic was very heavy and slow moving, and it didn’t look likely that I could make it.

An hour later we were still stuck in traffic, I phoned back to the office and told “D” that I was still about an hour away. I asked if he could re-schedule the appointment, or give it to somebody else, but he told me that he wouldn’t do that, and would fire me if I didn’t make it to the appointment.

My girlfriend then called her mother to ask if she could possibly grab my briefcase, camera and change of clothes, and meet us outside the office.

We reached the office at about a quarter to seven. I grabbed the change of clothes, went in to the office (only to get harangued by “D” who tells me I’m just talking bullshit) I change quickly into my suit, go back downstairs, to get harangued again – I tell him I don’t want to argue with him, and don’t have the time.

I left the office at about 6:50 and reached the front door of the customer (who thankfully wasn’t a long distance away) by pretty much exactly 7pm.

However, on reaching there, I noticed that the lights are out downstairs, and upstairs only the landing light is on. I knocked a few times, as there was no doorbell but got no response. Neighbour was coming out of her house a few doors down, so I asked if I was on the correct street and was told that I was. I’d been given the phone number of the house, so I tried ringing that, on the off chance that they were in but just didn’t hear me knocking, but got no answer.

At eight minutes past I phoned the office and told “D” that nobody was in. He first blames me for turning up late, but I assured him that I was there bang on 7, so he suggested that I wait until 7:30 in case they’ve gone out to walk the dog.

I moved the car to be directly outside their house, and waited, trying their phone a couple of times, just to be certain that they are out.

At half past I phoned back to the office again, and told him that there was still no sign of life from the house. He says he probably made a mistake, so to wait till 8, which I did.

At 8 there was still nothing, so I phoned back and get told to head home.

I got home at about half an hour, totally exhausted, had a bite to eat (having not eaten anything since lunchtime) and went to bed, ready for a 6am start the next morning in order to get to the advanced training session.

The training on Friday went pretty much without a hitch (bar my car getting stuck in ice when out of the drive, so it was quite a panic getting going.)

I popped in to the office on the way home in the evening, and was told that I’d have a 3pm appointment on Saturday and that he’d give me a call that evening, or in the morning to give me the details.

I was phoned the following morning with the details of the appointment – 3pm about 25 miles away. I had plenty of time to prepare, arrived at the location half an hour early, and had a walk around the street to get a feel for the place.

I made a few mistakes during the sale (which were to be expected as it was my first real go) but otherwise everything went brilliantly, and despite their concerns, I managed to sell them the front door and side panel, which both they and I were very pleased with (as was I, when everyone had told me that selling a door is one of the hardest things to do).

I phoned “D” afterwards, who told me he was proud, and that I’d have a 2pm lead on Sunday.

I sat by the phone all day Sunday, but didn’t get a call, which was quite disappointing, but also somewhat infuriating when I was pretty much trapped at home waiting for the phone to ring.

I got up early the next morning, and took the complete paperwork from Saturday’s sale into the office (at about quarter to ten.) I briefly spoke to “D” who said well done again, but had to de-brief three other reps, so I had to wait outside his office.

Eventually he was done with them (at about half eleven) and he spent a while going over the paper work. He points out some mistakes I hade made, but otherwise said that the actual sales and finance paperwork was very good. He tells me that I’ll have an evening appointment, and that he’ll ring me to let me know. I ask if he can tell me right away but he says that he needs to phone the customer and confirm it first.

At about half five that evening, I got a phone call on my mobile, and was given an appointment at 6pm.

I have only been permanently living with my girlfriend for under a month, so my knowledge of the local geography is pretty minimal. I didn’t realize what time it was until I was getting dressed for work, and my girlfriend checked on a map that we realized that there wasn’t any chance of me making the appointment on time.

(The journey is about 30 miles, and the speed limit for most of the journey is 50 or 40mph, so it’d take about 40 minutes even if the roads were totally clear and every traffic light was in my favour.)

So I phoned back (at about 5:40) and explained that it would in all likelihood take me about an hour to get there. “D” tells me that “that’s bollocks” and that he makes that journey all the time and it only takes him 20 minutes.

I grabbed my briefcase and my A to Z (which I hadn’t even had a chance to look at yet) and started driving.

Due to traffic lights, and slow moving evening rush hour traffic I didn’t reach the edge of the town I was heading for until 6:40.

Now I must point out again that I haven’t been living in here very long at all, and have never before visited the town I was now in. I didn’t have any chance to prepare my route, or even look at the map book before that moment, so I had to pull over and attempt to map read for my self, in the dark, in a town I’ve never visited before.

After about 15 minutes of that, I was seriously fed up, and knew I’m not in any kind of fit state to go into a customer’s house and try and sell them anything. Knowing “D” temperament I decided I wouldn’t be doing myself any favours if I phoned him straight away. Remembering my interview, he had told me that I could ring him if I had any questions or problems, so this seemed a sensible course of action.

He was sympathetic, but told me that there was nothing that he could really do and that I should just take a minute to gain my composure, then phone “D”.

Just after 7pm I phoned the office and asked to be put through to “D”. I told him that I’d only just reached Grantham, and judging by the traffic it would take me another 10 minutes to find the house of the customer. He again tells me that he can easily make the same journey in 20 minutes, and went on to insult my car and my ability as a driver. At roughly that point I heard him answer a call on another line (from the guy who’d interviewed me and who I’d just spoken to) who “D” asked to hang on. “D” then asked me why I’d got him involved, to which I replied that at the time of my interview I’d been told me to feel free to call him if I had any questions or problems, and I felt I needed some advice before deciding how to go on, as I wasn’t feeling in any kind of fit state to enter a customer’s home (over an hour late.)

“D” then told me to “fuck off” and hung up on me.

I timed the drive home, just to be certain, and from the edge of town back to my home took forty-five minutes.

I really didn’t feel comfortable working with somebody who showed such disregard for his colleagues and such little professionalism. I did wonder if things were being made intentionally awkward for me. From everything I was told during the training week, the branch phones the customers twice on the day of the appointment, one of these an hour before, so it does seem very strange for nobody to be in at 7pm if they had indeed been called at 6 to verify that everything was ok.

Also it seemed to be made out to be my fault that it was impossible to drive an hour journey in twenty minutes. I had no problem with going that distance, but just can’t understand why it was only possible to give me twenty five minutes notice of the appointment.

Having been messed around more for the rest of the week I decided that I wasn’t prepared to work at the weekend, so tried to phone in on the Friday, only to be told that “D” would get back to me, and again on the Saturday morning, only to get no answer.

By the time “D” deemed fit to ring me in the afternoon I was back at my parents home. I told him that I wasn’t at all happy with the way things had gone and wanted the weekend to be able to relax and re-think things and decide what I wanted to do. Again he was hostile, and said in that case he’d make the decision for me, and could I drop off my sales kit on Monday.

That’s where I left the Staybrite saga, and am now back to looking for IT based work.