... Remember me?
Been thinking about posting again - like a lot of erstwhile LJ people do, I'm sure, but have finally put fingers to keyboard today, mostly because of
this article which probably had loftier aims than simply getting people to 'blog again, but you have to start somewhere, before you leap off the grid entirely to devote yourself to... music, photography, world domination... whatever your 99% project is
Another reason it can be hard to sit down & write:
Layla... my most common view of her. Since becoming an only cat, following the death of her sister, she's... well, not exactly clingy, but very fond of climbing onto me, finding a comfortable spot & going to sleep. Which usually renders one or both of my arms inoperable for anything much beyond stroking her. Especially when I'm sitting at the computer. All part of her masterplan - cutting me off from the outside world so that I remain under her 4 thumbs, only to adore her... & feed her
She's also loving the fact that, yet again, I've been made redundant, so have a lot of free time to be sat on... regardless of whether I'm trying to write an application letter or not. How she'll feel when the money finally runs out, followed by the food, is pretty clear - there'll be one last WaitingMan-sized banquet, then she'll find her way out the door into the world
Redundant - surplus to requirements, un-needed, unnecessary, unsuitable. Having this happen 3 times in almost as many years makes you wonder about reasons - beyond the glib excuse of an unstable industry. After all, the common factor in all of these 'redundancies' has been me. On more than one accasion I've been told that, as a Salesperson, I'm not "aggressive enough", or in other words, I don't railroad people into buying what I want to sell them, I try to find out what they want or need. And that can sometimes take time. More time than the modern sales environment will allow. Apparently. The truth seems to be that, despite many companies claiming to be all about customer service, the reality is that we... 'they' want to fast-track you into a prepackaged box & have you pay for it within 5 minutes of walking through the door. Salespeople just don't have the time to sell any more... it seems
I've been called an 'Old School' Salesperson. I used to think it was a compliment, before 3 redundancies made me realise it's a criticism. Funny... my clients always seemed to be happy. Problem being that I had fewer of them than was desired, regardless of how satisfied they are
So, I've been looking at other things I can do (apart from taking photos & playing music) with all the peripheral skills one picks up over the years. Unfortunately, most of them seem to point in a direction I've been reluctant to go since arriving at the University of Sydney in 1985... Teaching. I've never had the desire, nor believed I have the temperament, to stand in front of a bunch of people & try to inspire & impart knowledge, facts & processes to them. Especially to children, with whom I've never had any empathy - even when I was one
Even so... why is it, when you're out of work & wanting to re-train & try a new track, that courses are so damned expensive??!! I visited the website of a reputable business training institution & was knocked dollar-&-centsless by the cost of a certificate course in corporate training. My severance package wasn't even going to cover the fees, let alone the time required to complete the course whilst not working
If you ever think that nobody cares if you live or die... try missing a couple of payments
We're okay though... Layla won't be having that Grande Bouffe any time soon. Long-suffering Partner is still gainfully employed at the coalface, occasionally thinking about how her pickaxe could be better used hacking at softer tissues than materials that only profit others
Oh to be free as a bird...
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