Sloth Salesman

As the beads of sweat froze on the back of my neck from the cooling vent that had kicked on for the fifteenth time in the last twenty minutes I realized I am not a salesman. It wasn't the uncomfortable mechanically disable office chair or the lack luster location of my desk, it was my inner sloth.

I had started a new sales job, the first ever in my job history, and was optimistic about all the new experiences I would come across and the variety of skills I would learn. Three days later, I was desperate to get out.

The sweat that had been running down my neck and staining my shirts over the past few days were the result of my nerves. Not nerves of confusion or lack of knowledge, but the thought that I was a sloth in a pack of cheetahs. As for the cooling vent that froze my beads of sweat, well that was just the result of a poor location for my office desk.

When I say that I am a sloth it does not mean that I am a slow learner. I know how to pick things up pretty quick. To make a sale in this cheetah environment you have to strike as many clients as fast as possible in a short amount of time and in those short strikes you need "dollars." It is all about contacts and money.

The part that I loved about the job was the contacting part, but the money part got in the way for me. I had the idea in my head that if a client "doesn't make dollars, it doesn't make cents." This is the exact opposite of how my mind works.

I know the value of money, especially in these economic times and especially since I am a newly married man at the age of 22, but I felt my inner sloth speaking to me.

The sloth in me might be describe as my laziness, but in this instance it was my gut feeling that this was a mistake. I couldn't picture myself asking for money from people that I had built a relationship with so how would I do that with complete strangers?

I respect all salespeople in this world. They definitely have their work cut out for them and as cheetahs they deserve every spot that they earn. I would be an albino cheetah if I stayed in sales.

I am a sloth. The animal often referred to as a sleeper, an eater and dirty. For those that know me the sleeping and eating parts are true. As for being dirty, I try to groom myself regularly.

The dirt in my life comes from the messes that I encounter day-to-day. The foolish mistakes, the aggravating situations, the sadness of death and tragedy and in this instance the loss of a job with great benefits. Nobody can avoid this filth, it just happens.

So as I encountered this big dirt clod of a job that was thrown in my face, I find myself feeling a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. The worry of unemployment hasn't fully settled in quite yet, but I am grateful for this experience.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance" (James 1:2-3). So I am going to trust the inner sloth that God has given me and find out where He wants me in life and in a career. Hopefully it is a job far away from hyper active cooling vents and mechanically disabled office chairs.