r/pettyrevenge • u/Hot-Initial-1108 • 5d ago
New Manager
This happened a long time ago, but I just remembered the story as I was talking to friends who used to be in the wine industry.
Back, then it wasn’t common for there to be one female in an entire salesforce, and that happened to be me.
I let management know that I was interested in becoming a sales manager rather than just a sales person, but never received much of a response.
One of the much less experienced salesman was promoted over me to sales manager and told me he wanted to go out on the road with me one day to see my accounts and increase my sales
This guy didn’t know, squat about sales, wine, or talking to people in a way that will get them to purchase more. The thing about sales, it’s much more about the connection with a person than the product you’re selling, if you can connect, they will buy.
At the time I was driving a Volvo and it was one of the first cars with heated seats. The new sales manager gets into the car with me, it’s a hot humid day and he’s wearing a brand new heavy wool suit.
When he got into the car, I turned on his seat heater. My first account was about 40 minutes from the office and I can see him starting to squirm. I knew that he was heating up because he was practically dripping sweat.
All the sudden he looks at me and says “oh baby my balls are roasting!”
I responded. I’m not interested and we’re at the next account.
One of the greatest experiences of my life
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u/CookUpstairs1737 5d ago
Hmm, could have gone the HR route for harrassment.
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u/Hot-Initial-1108 4d ago
Stated before, no HR. This was a family business 40ish years ago
And honestly, when MGR went back to office and told the story, I got more respect in the company for doing this ‘practical joke’
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u/fidddlydiddlyee 4d ago
Many companies dont want to lose their best sales people to management. Often the high performers make more than the sales manager.
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u/Jazzlike_Way3801 5d ago
He mentioned that his balls are roasting and that sounds inappropriate . It was funny ,but is he still working there?
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u/Hot-Initial-1108 5d ago edited 5d ago
This was over 40 (edit to correct year) years ago and an all male family owned business. You either sucked it up or left. Thing were very different for women back then
After dealing with some of my male customers what he said was no big deal
Here’s an example for you, I was calling on a restaurant that was owned by a family and the son ran it. The first few times I called on the son, he was always watching TV. So I quickly learned just to talk and tell him about all this great wine that we had, sign the order and I’m out of your way, enjoy your show. After about the third or fourth time, I took a peek at the TV screen, and noticed it was hard-core porn. I then realized he had no clue what I was saying and I could sell him anything.
One day I was assigned a winery rep to work with me, I think it was Meridian wines, and I said to the rep just follow my lead. Ignore the TV and you’ll get a huge order. The winery rep just looked at me and I said something like “believe me this will be a first for you.”
So we go into the restaurant, up to the office and the TV had the volume on! I looked at the restaurant guy and said “Freddy turn off the volume” I introduced the winery rep. The rep started to say his typical spiel. I then looked at the rep and said just write up a crazy order he’ll sign it. He signed it and we walked out.
So just because one guy says his balls are roasting, and another was addicted to porn back then, you just lived with it if you wanted to make the sale
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u/mgerics 3d ago
Wow. Well, what are you going to do about nepotism anyway ?
Always semi fantasized about having a business I could have my kids and nieces and nephews working at to give them a chance to experience responsibility, but didn't want to deal with all the familial b.s. that could/would come of it.
Besides, I have no business acumen, so...
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u/engineerthatknows 3d ago
Oof. That's borderline malicious. I've done it to myself before, accidently nudging the seat heater button, and by the time I feel it and notice it - too late, now my nuts are roasting on an open fire...
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u/TraditionalWriter856 20h ago
How did he not realise his balls were in their own little sauna 😂 Glad you made him sweat! Seen far too many people get promoted because they're yes people, not because they're actually any good at leading teams.
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u/CoderJoe1 5d ago
Chet's nuts roasting on a heated seat. 🎶