Hey all
I'm pretty new to the site but I what I am familiar with is how much ecigs have changed, aswell as the general consensus on how people with ecigs are treated overall aswell. Certainly alot better than 4 years ago I'll give you that.
If I can put it into better context, I did infact work as Ecig Promoter/Ambassador 4 years ago.
I must have dealt with hundreds upon HUNDREDS of customers, all looking for an alternative to their already, bad habit. There were great customers, there were bad customers and then there the real KUKstomers.
If you're interested, I will bear all the funny and the... not so funny stuff I encountered in my year of trials and tribulations as a traveling Ecig salesman.
SO, pop a spot on the ol' knee and sit your bum nice and cosy! Erm, or just, sit there infront of your monitor...and scroll..., yup, SO ANYWAY
_______________________________________________________________
My very first job, fresh out of school, was to goto the malls, setup my little counter/stand and smoke away the whole day on the range of electronic cigarettes (I cant disclose the name of the business for legal reasons) but I will be honest; I had NO idea how they got my cellphone number, my home address, email or my CV to begin with. Hell, I didn't even have a CV at the time so I was a bit perturbed as to how I was contacted. I didn't even know anything ABOUT Electronic Cigarettes, I wasn't even interested in sales.
Could someone have forwarded my details to these people? I'll never know.
The guy who phoned me, who were to be my potential boss the following days later, sounded like a scruffy 30's something who loved saying "ITS FANTASTIC" after every 10th word...
His name was Henrik.
Henrik had me on the phone for about 30 minutes, telling me all the wonders of this brand new tech called the Electronic Cigarette and how they were the first true South African company to locally make and distribute these technological wonders...
The man could go on 702 Talk Radio and would be ironically kicked off for talking TOO MUCH if given the opportunity.
Me being young, dumb and willing to work for just about anything to have some spending money, I dismissed every notion not to meet Henrik and I metup for a cup of coffee on of our fine established malls in the JHB region the following day to discuss the sales position on offer.
The next day arrived and I received an SMS saying "Hi! Great talking to you yesterday dude, I appreciate you hearing me out on our conversation it was fantastic, you have a unique Aura about you its fantastic! I'll be sitting in the M&B smoking my Electronic Cigarette...See you at 9.30!"
Laughing randomly at the notion he complimented my...Aura... I couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny or serious. Regardless, I head over to M&B quickly in anticipation of meeting my very first boss! Also, I figured he would be seen as an untouchable man exhaling water vapor, people would be enquiring and looking in wonder as we gave live demos, making sales THEN and THERE...it sounded amazing in my head...
Now, here is where things got, messy.
I arrived at Mugg & Bean, on the lookout for a man smoking inside the establishment and not the actual smokers area, if there were any...instead, all I saw was a man smoking an electronic cigarette at a table... being accosted by 2 other customers, a big fat black man dressed in M&B clothing who I assumed was the management, 3 WAITERS AND 2 SECURITY GUARDS...all at once.
Henrik was trying to calm people down, quickly showing and engaging people on that he was not smoking a real cigarette, some other customers began coughing and covering their mouths with their shirts as they didnt want to inhale the horrible second hand...WATER VAPOUR.
"Put that flippin' thing away or I'll have you arrested!"
"Oh my god he's smoking inside what is wrong with you I have asthmatic child!"
*cough cough cough* head shaking...
"Just go outside and smoke that thing FLIP!"
No one was even giving this guy a chance to BREATHE and whenever he tried to tell the angry pitchfork wielding joburgers they answered "ITS STILL SMOKING!" He didnt have a chance in winning this battle, it honestly looked like they were going to kick his ass just to appease the roudy customers.
Then, just as I was about to get on the NOPE train back to NOPESVILLE, Henrik looked down by the entrance and he must have seen me because I told him what I looked like...He shouted right down the hall "Hey sorry man you must be Neil! Fantastic! Can you come help me here please!"...99% of all the M&B faced their attention towards me and I felt 100 angry eyes staring right at me...
I then said the one thing that any rational human being would have said in any given situation;
"I have never seen this man before in my life."
If you enjoyed that, I will be more than happy to provide Part 2 of what happened next!
I'm pretty new to the site but I what I am familiar with is how much ecigs have changed, aswell as the general consensus on how people with ecigs are treated overall aswell. Certainly alot better than 4 years ago I'll give you that.
If I can put it into better context, I did infact work as Ecig Promoter/Ambassador 4 years ago.
I must have dealt with hundreds upon HUNDREDS of customers, all looking for an alternative to their already, bad habit. There were great customers, there were bad customers and then there the real KUKstomers.
If you're interested, I will bear all the funny and the... not so funny stuff I encountered in my year of trials and tribulations as a traveling Ecig salesman.
SO, pop a spot on the ol' knee and sit your bum nice and cosy! Erm, or just, sit there infront of your monitor...and scroll..., yup, SO ANYWAY
_______________________________________________________________
My very first job, fresh out of school, was to goto the malls, setup my little counter/stand and smoke away the whole day on the range of electronic cigarettes (I cant disclose the name of the business for legal reasons) but I will be honest; I had NO idea how they got my cellphone number, my home address, email or my CV to begin with. Hell, I didn't even have a CV at the time so I was a bit perturbed as to how I was contacted. I didn't even know anything ABOUT Electronic Cigarettes, I wasn't even interested in sales.
Could someone have forwarded my details to these people? I'll never know.
The guy who phoned me, who were to be my potential boss the following days later, sounded like a scruffy 30's something who loved saying "ITS FANTASTIC" after every 10th word...
His name was Henrik.
Henrik had me on the phone for about 30 minutes, telling me all the wonders of this brand new tech called the Electronic Cigarette and how they were the first true South African company to locally make and distribute these technological wonders...
The man could go on 702 Talk Radio and would be ironically kicked off for talking TOO MUCH if given the opportunity.
Me being young, dumb and willing to work for just about anything to have some spending money, I dismissed every notion not to meet Henrik and I metup for a cup of coffee on of our fine established malls in the JHB region the following day to discuss the sales position on offer.
The next day arrived and I received an SMS saying "Hi! Great talking to you yesterday dude, I appreciate you hearing me out on our conversation it was fantastic, you have a unique Aura about you its fantastic! I'll be sitting in the M&B smoking my Electronic Cigarette...See you at 9.30!"
Laughing randomly at the notion he complimented my...Aura... I couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny or serious. Regardless, I head over to M&B quickly in anticipation of meeting my very first boss! Also, I figured he would be seen as an untouchable man exhaling water vapor, people would be enquiring and looking in wonder as we gave live demos, making sales THEN and THERE...it sounded amazing in my head...
Now, here is where things got, messy.
I arrived at Mugg & Bean, on the lookout for a man smoking inside the establishment and not the actual smokers area, if there were any...instead, all I saw was a man smoking an electronic cigarette at a table... being accosted by 2 other customers, a big fat black man dressed in M&B clothing who I assumed was the management, 3 WAITERS AND 2 SECURITY GUARDS...all at once.
Henrik was trying to calm people down, quickly showing and engaging people on that he was not smoking a real cigarette, some other customers began coughing and covering their mouths with their shirts as they didnt want to inhale the horrible second hand...WATER VAPOUR.
"Put that flippin' thing away or I'll have you arrested!"
"Oh my god he's smoking inside what is wrong with you I have asthmatic child!"
*cough cough cough* head shaking...
"Just go outside and smoke that thing FLIP!"
No one was even giving this guy a chance to BREATHE and whenever he tried to tell the angry pitchfork wielding joburgers they answered "ITS STILL SMOKING!" He didnt have a chance in winning this battle, it honestly looked like they were going to kick his ass just to appease the roudy customers.
Then, just as I was about to get on the NOPE train back to NOPESVILLE, Henrik looked down by the entrance and he must have seen me because I told him what I looked like...He shouted right down the hall "Hey sorry man you must be Neil! Fantastic! Can you come help me here please!"...99% of all the M&B faced their attention towards me and I felt 100 angry eyes staring right at me...
I then said the one thing that any rational human being would have said in any given situation;
"I have never seen this man before in my life."
If you enjoyed that, I will be more than happy to provide Part 2 of what happened next!
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