Useless Conversation

[Sky]

We drank Smirnoff like good comrades.

[Paelos]

I liked Pinnacle a lot for good moderately priced vodka when I was drinking.

[WayAbvPar]

I fucking hate sales people.  I mean, really, really can't stand them.

I'm not talking about assholes phoning me either;  I'm talking about the ones I have to work with.

They are truly the worst sort of human beings. Shallow, empty-headed, and 10x more likely to actively interfere with getting anything done than actually helping.

[Nebu]

There is nothing worse than a salesperson paid on commission.  NOTHING.  They might as well wear a facial tattoo that reads "I sold my soul for $$$"

[MrHat]

"Honestly speaking? Ya, I get paid commission, but I'm not here to sell you one product, I want us to have a working relationship, so I wouldn't sell you a product you didn't need. And based on what we just talked about, you will definitely get use out of this product and we'll be talking again soon about other things you might need."


Fucking hell, I hate "let me be honest" in any conversation.

[Paelos]

Every business needs to have sales people or you don't have jobs. I don't get the hate.

What because they make money? Believe me, being a good salesperson is a skill most human beings lack.

[Phildo]

The trouble is that lots of salespeople are also bad at it.

[Sky]

I did sales for a few years. I'm an amazing salesman for good products and absolutely terrible at selling bad products. So I got out of sales.

[Ironwood]

Every business needs to have sales people or you don't have jobs.

Tell me more.

[Nebu]

Every business needs to have sales people or you don't have jobs. I don't get the hate.

Salesman: A person trying to coerce you into buying something for the sole purpose of their own personal gain.  That's why the hate.  Most salespeople are out for themselves, not to service the needs of the customer.  There are exceptions, but those people don't tend to stay in sales long.  Being honest and ethical in sales is a sure way to shorten your career.

To a degree I am a salesman as well, but not for personal gain.  My job is to sell my ideas to senators and congressmen so that I can continue to provide jobs for the people in my lab.  I never imagined that being a researcher was a lot like being married... a lot of shameless begging.

[WayAbvPar]

They also promise all sorts of shit to customers, and THEN come back to the people actually working on the product and tell them it needs to be done NOW. Well guess what, dipshit? That isn't even remotely possible.

Fuck salesmen. If a product is worth a shit it sells itself most of the time.


Oh and all the begging being done in my marriage comes with a full portion of shame 

[Numtini]

Back in ancient times, I took typing for money. I had a manuscript and typed it and got it back with every single instance of "its" red penned and changed to "it's".

[Lantyssa]

I hope you got to charge them for a second copy once you pointed out they were morons.

Kind of like sales people... ours is useless.  I don't think he's actually sold a client, he's scared off all the good collectors, he's a bully, and runs ops like his little fiefdom.  He also protected a terrible manager for years because she was a personal pet until she fucked up so badly that even he couldn't save her.

More than likely the company is going to fail, and 90% of it is because he's running most of the show.

[Cyrrex]

Maybe you already had this kind of (important and fundamental for the destiny of mankind :P) conversation, but WHAT'S WITH PEOPLE USING "IT'S" INSTEAD OF "ITS" when required ?? Is it some kind of trend/fashion internet thing that makes everyone feel cool?

I've been wondering this for a while, and decided to post after noticing yet another wrongful use of "it's" in a Broken Age update on Steam (" Broken Age Act 1 is now here in it's full glory! " )

Am I missing something?

/non-english native grammar nazi mode - off

Well, you ask and I answer.  The reason people fuck this up is because they want to use apostrophe's for the possessive form of "it" just like they do with names.  Examples:

That is Jim's taco.  (good)
Here comes Frank's wife. (good)
That game had it's highlights.  (bad)

People want to use it the same way, but it is a subjective personal pronoun (like HE, SHE, YOU) and you can't do that.  It would be the same as saying "here comes he's wife" which doesn't even sound right.  More to the point, people want to treat it like a name, because "IT" does not change form like the others (HE becomes HIS, etc.).  So the natural tendency is for people to treat it just like a name.  Which I totally get, actually.  You have to teach yourself not to make the mistake, I think.

[Polysorbate80]

It's nasty straight out of the bottle, but I like me some Skyy Pineapple Vodka in Diet Coke...

IMO, the only purpose of regular vodka is to marinate all the blue cheese stuffed olives in my martini glass.

[Nebu]

IMO, the only purpose of regular vodka is to marinate all the blue cheese stuffed olives in my martini glass liver.

FIFY

[Polysorbate80]

No, the scotch takes care of that.   I think the martinis affect my cholesterol more 

[Signe]

My sister buys these enormous bottles of cheap vodka to make into tinctures and that sort of thing.  I use vodka to clean my earrings and other bits.  I don't care if it's cheap or pricey vodka.  Cleans all the same.

[Sky]

If I'm mixing diet coke, I like Captain Morgan's spiced rum. There some kind of vanilla synergy going on there that works for me.

That said, these days I stick to scotch or beer. Or champagne, I'm developing a taste for that, too. A good sangria works, too.

[Ingmar]

Every business needs to have sales people or you don't have jobs. I don't get the hate.

What because they make money? Believe me, being a good salesperson is a skill most human beings lack.

For me it's about how they are simultaneously among the biggest users of technology at a company and also the worst at actually functioning with it. Also they're very often in different time zones and need shitloads of remote support at odd hours, URGENTLY FROM A CUSTOMER SITE BECAUSE MY LAPTOP WON'T SHOW THE PRESENTATION AND WAIT IT HAS OLD SLIDES etc. This all combines to make them a singular pain in the ass for the IT department. If I had to guess Ironwood is coming from some place similar.

EDIT: Also, Salesforce.

[Hammond]

Sigh Bootcamp install + new Imac + Windows 7 = huge pain in the ass

No usb 3 support on windows 7 makes for a interesting install process.

[Polysorbate80]

Koloa on Kauai makes a really good spiced rum, but it's a pain to get on the mainland.  They can usually ship to licensed retailers though, if it's not available in your liquor store.

Their coconut rum is even better, but they're not shipping it yet.  I'm hoarding my bottles jealously.

[Nebu]

I'm starting to think that I'm broken.  I have no taste for coffee, tea, or alcohol.  I only drink alcohol for effect or medicinally.  Can't stand vinegar or most condiments either. 

[Ironwood]

They also promise all sorts of shit to customers, and THEN come back to the people actually working on the product and tell them it needs to be done NOW. Well guess what, dipshit? That isn't even remotely possible.

Ding Ding Ding.

[Polysorbate80]

I'm starting to think that I'm broken.  I have no taste for coffee, tea, or alcohol. 

If it makes you feel better, I can't stand to drink coffee or tea.  Blurgh!

I like the smell of coffee, though.  Even that "old-burned-coffee" odor that pervades cheap diners.

[WayAbvPar]

I have such a Pavlovian reaction to coffee it isn't even funny. Movies, TV, even seeing other commuters- anyone drinking a cup of coffee drives me wild with jealousy.

I also quite enjoy tea and booze 

[Paelos]

Every business needs to have sales people or you don't have jobs. I don't get the hate.

What because they make money? Believe me, being a good salesperson is a skill most human beings lack.

For me it's about how they are simultaneously among the biggest users of technology at a company and also the worst at actually functioning with it. Also they're very often in different time zones and need shitloads of remote support at odd hours, URGENTLY FROM A CUSTOMER SITE BECAUSE MY LAPTOP WON'T SHOW THE PRESENTATION AND WAIT IT HAS OLD SLIDES etc. This all combines to make them a singular pain in the ass for the IT department. If I had to guess Ironwood is coming from some place similar.

EDIT: Also, Salesforce.

I get that. I guess in choosing between the sparkling personalities of sales guys or the IT folks I'm probably more likely to go golf with the sales guys.

Then again, I hang out with you people on here all day too. It's a win-win.

[Yegolev]

If you just hang out with them on the golf course, of course you're going to enjoy their company.

[Numtini]

Sigh Bootcamp install + new Imac + Windows 7 = huge pain in the ass

No usb 3 support on windows 7 makes for a interesting install process.

I could swear the ports just worked on my MacBook Air. I definitely installed from a USB DVD and remember it being painless.

[Hammond]

Oh everything worked except for the keyboard / mouse. Even plugging in one didn't work. The trick was to a small modification on the install volume so it booted into legacy mode. Finding the actual command took longer than anything else.

[Merusk]

They also promise all sorts of shit to customers, and THEN come back to the people actually working on the product and tell them it needs to be done NOW. Well guess what, dipshit? That isn't even remotely possible.

Ding Ding Ding.

Lies. No salesman has ever, ever made promises to me or of me that were outright lies or defied the laws of physics just to get money in their pocket in the form of commission.  Commission keeps sales people honest because if they lied they'd have no repeat customers and would be forced to jump from company to company and industry to industry!

Also, Thursday is opposite day.

[Yegolev]

Also, Thursday is opposite day.

[Ironwood]

If you just hang out with them on the golf course, of course you're going to enjoy their company.

He's the accountant.  He has no other useful function.   

[Salamok]

Every business needs to have sales people or you don't have jobs. I don't get the hate.

What because they make money? Believe me, being a good salesperson is a skill most human beings lack.

So much of being successful at a company involves management and upper management seeing you as a valued resource.  Salespeople are pretty good at using their sales skills to overstate their value to the organization.  Your statement "Every business needs to have sales people or you don't have jobs." is a fine example of a sales pitch that overstates the contribution sales makes to an organization, so no shit sherlock they also need a product and someone to produce that product, some marketing folks so people are at least aware of the product, then there is the accounting guy cutting checks so you get paid, the computer person making sure your phone and email works, managers to ensure people are showing up and actually doing stuff productive once in awhile...

edit - Here is a real world example from my stint as sole IT bitch for a medium volume mortgage broker:  Phone system crashes, owner of the company "Every fucking hour that my phone is down is costing me $10,000 and that isn't even counting the other 15 salespeople I have working for me." and that doesn't even involve the near total lack of tech skill for many of our sales staff.  I can't tell you how many times the whole office had to come to a halt over some sales diva running around throwing a shit fit telling everyone the mail server is down and all our systems are crap because they typoed an email address.

[Ironwood]

Tell that cunt to put a backup line in.

For Fucks sake, if it's costing you that much, get some fucking redundancy !