mean guy, nice guy

Disclaimer: all stories are real experiences, however names have been removed for privacy purposes.

“You don’t get it now, but you’ll get it later. Witcho country ass.”

Yep - you read that correctly.

Those words were from the man that hired me: Marvin. He was a black man from Alabama who was about my height and drove a pickup truck. We seemed to vibe during my interview, but after a week on the job, things changed.

On my first day, I was excited to meet the team and listen in on calls. Our job was to qualify at least ten leads per week (aka people who would buy something), then pass them to field sales reps to close the deal. it was pretty straight forward. Only thing was I didn’t know anything about technology, so when it was my turn - I wasn't quite sure what was I going to say.

All I could think about were all the telemarketing jobs I had in college when I sold encyclopedias, AOL subscriptions, and AAA memberships over the phone. Hey, this shouldn’t be too bad, right?

Well, on day 8, it was my turn to qualify my first lead and Marvin was listening in. I gathered all the information in a word document, sent it over, and wrote a check on the board next to my name to show I nailed one. Hell, I thought I did pretty good for my first time.

Marvin’s cubicle was right next to mine and suddenly, he jumped up, peered his face over to me with his finger in my face and said, “I expect more outta you jack town” (that’s what he called my hometown).

For the next several weeks, I always came to work on edge. he was mean one day, then nice another — it was so damn weird. We would play ping-pong or checkers for about an hour during the workday, then he’d be upset when I missed my weekly target. WTF? Everyone at work knew about it, but they said he was just doing it because I was young and green. Regardless, it made me feel upset and incompetent.

Then one day, I pushed back. I don’t recall exactly what he said, but I had enough. He looked at me and noticed I had tears welling in my eyes. He said, “Listen, you don’t understand it right now because you’re too young, but I’m preparing you for what’s to come on the other side. This is nothing compared to what you’re going to get. You need to toughen up. This company has never had a Black woman in sales and you will be the first. You don’t get it now, but you’ll get it later. Witcho’ country ass.”

Boy, was he right.

-btg